AS PRISON POPULATION SNOWBALLS, N.C. DEBATES A BUILDING PROGRAM

Officials Say Sentencing Guidelines, State's Growth Are Behind Need For
Cells

While prison populations across the nation are stabilizing, North
Carolina's prison population is expected to continue its 10-year
explosive growth and increase almost 30 percent by the end of the
decade.

North Carolina's 78 prisons hold about 31,500 inmates. The state's
prison population is expected to top 40,000 by 2010. And more
maximum-security prisons are needed to house the growing number of
dangerous criminals - murderers, rapists and armed robbers - who are
being locked up.

Prison experts say the need for more prisons is fueled by the state's
growing population and sentencing laws designed to keep violent
criminals and repeat offenders behind bars.

Construction is expected to begin later this year on two - possibly
three - maximum-security prisons that will each hold 1,000 criminals.
And cells are being added to Central Prison in Raleigh, the state's
largest and most secure facility, to hold more violent criminals.

"We have more serious offenders," said Pam Walker, spokeswoman for the
N.C. Department of Correction. "And they're going to be staying in
prison for longer periods of time."

North Carolina's prison population is the 13th highest in the nation.
But the state's incarceration rate - 345 prisoners for every 100,000
population - is ranked 30th nationally. That means that although the
state has a lot of prisoners, they make up a comparatively small portion
of the overall population.

Among those to blame for the rising maximum-security prison population:

Samuel Mahatha, sentenced to life in prison in February for the 1998
murder of Mecklenburg Sheriff's Capt. Anthony Stancil.

Kentay Lamarr Lee, who was 14 when he was charged with murder, sentenced
to life in prison for the 1999 bludgeoning and stabbing death of a
30-year-old disabled man in Charlotte.

John Brewer Eustace, sentenced to at least 80 years in prison for
kidnapping and raping a 2-year-old Charlotte girl in 1997.

North Carolina's prisons are operating near or at capacity. Gregg Stahl,
one of the Correction Department's legislative liaisons, said the inmate
population will exceed capacity within 12 months.

"We're getting dangerously close to not having enough beds," Stahl said.
North Carolina's prison population has soared 66 percent during the past
decade. In 1991, the average inmate population was 19,048. Last year,
the inmate population averaged 31,535.

North Carolina's population, now 8 million, increased 21.4 percent
during the 1990s and is projected to increase to 9.5 million by 2010.

During the past decade, the number of maximum-security prisoners has
more than doubled. Ten years ago, North Carolina's prisons held 2,111
maximum-security inmates. Last year, the number of high-security
prisoners totaled 5,395.

The N.C. Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission projects that North
Carolina's prisons will hold 35,682 inmates by 2005 and 40,309 by 2010.

Legislators, concerned about the projected prison growth, have asked the
sentencing commission to review the state's sentencing laws to see
whether there's any way to slow the growth.

One possible option is to reduce sentences for some crimes so inmates
spend less time in prison. Another option is to punish some types of
offenders by sending them to rehabilitation programs in the community
rather than to prison.

Lao Rubert, director of the Carolina Justice Policy Center in Durham,
said North Carolina should look for more ways to rehabilitate offenders
so it doesn't have to build so many prisons.

"I think we need to spend more money on good treatment programs and link
those programs to our criminal justice system," said Rubert, whose
agency pushes for alternatives to prison programs. "My organization
advocates finding community programs that can work safely and
effectively with offenders.

"Nobody thinks locking people away is the only thing we should be doing.
We need to do a better job dealing with our treatment programs and
dealing with people who are in throes of drug addiction."

Rubert, who also serves on the state's sentencing commission, added:
"The state is going to build more prisons. The question is: Does it need
to build that many?"

Since 1991, 19 prisons have been built across the state at a cost of
$423 million. The new prisons hold 11,000 inmates. At the same time,
more than 20 smaller prisons, minimum- and medium-security facilities
that were too costly to operate, have been closed.

South Carolina's prison population has increased every year since 1970.
Ten years ago, the state's prisons held 17,641 inmates. Last year's
average inmate population was 22,053. South Carolina's population
increased 15 percent during the 1990s.

The number of S.C. prisoners is projected to grow by as much as 500 a
year for the next five years. The state isn't building any new prisons,
but is putting in additional beds. One 256-bed unit has been completed;
seven more 256-bed units are expected to be built within a year.

Nationwide, prison populations are beginning to level off after
exploding for three decades. And the overcrowding that has plagued state
prisons is easing as a result of falling crime rates and a decade of new
prison construction.

The number of state prisoners nationwide grew by only 1.5 percent last
year - the lowest annual increase in 29 years, according to the U.S.
Justice Department. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of state prisoners
nationwide grew by 75 percent - from 708,393 to 1,242,962.

North Carolina now has 13 maximum-security prisons.

State prison officials plan to open an additional 400 beds this year.
Almost 200 of them will be for maximum-security prisoners at Central
Prison in Raleigh.

The Department of Correction also wants to build three maximum-security
prisons at a cost of $224 million that will hold up to 3,000 criminals.
So far, the department has gotten authorization to build two of them.

Department of Correction, which has a current year budget of $927.9
million, is recommending the prisons be built in Anson, Alexander and
Scotland counties. It will take about two years to build the prisons.

The new maximum-security prisons will be built with private money and
then purchased and owned by investors through tax-exempt certificates.
The state will then lease each prison for $7.5 million a year and will
have an option to purchase them.

It will cost $17.5 million a year to operate each of the three
maximum-security prisons.

Susan Katzenelson, executive director of North Carolina's sentencing
commission, said the projected increases in prison populations are due
in part to the state's sentencing laws, now more than 6 years old, that
abolished parole.

North Carolina's sentencing laws, which went into effect in October
1994, were designed to keep dangerous felons behind bars longer.

Katzenelson said North Carolina needs more higher-security prison beds
to house the increasing population of violent and repeat offenders.

"It's the nature of the clients that increases the need for more prison
beds," Katzenelson said. "The more difficult offenders need
higher-custody prisons."

Katzenelson said North Carolina's population growth also is fueling the
need for more prisons.

"It's not that there's a huge crime wave," Katzenelson said. "It's a
good thing the state's population is growing. But this - more prisons -
is one of the side effects. There are more of us to misbehave."

Katzenelson also said that only a third of the state's convicted felons
are being sent to prison. Those who are being sent to prison, she said,
are being locked up for the public's safety.

"These are the people who need to be in prison," she said. "I think our
system selectively chooses who should be incapacitated. Those are the
violent and repeat offenders who seem to have committed themselves to a
criminal career."