CONN. PRISONERS HAVE SERIOUS ADDICTIONS, REPORT FINDS

STAMFORD - Two-thirds of Connecticut's nearly 20,000 prisoners have
serious addictions, and many need to be placed into treatment to avoid
an overcrowding crisis, according to a report released Thursday by two
non-profit organizations.

The report, commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance, a non-profit
that seeks reform of tough drug laws, urges the state to invest in
drug treatment and programs to help former prisoners re-enter society
successfully.

It recommends abolishing drug laws that carry mandatory minimum
sentences and deal harsher punishments to offenders caught with drugs
near a school, public housing project or day care center.

The report, co-sponsored by the A Better Way Foundation, a Connecticut
non-profit that has pushed for changes in drug laws, also warns
against enacting a three-strikes law in the wake of last year's
Cheshire triple-murder.

Before the Cheshire case, experts and non-profits nationwide
recognized Connecticut as a model in expanding treatment opportunities
and trimming its prison population. The report recommends the state
continue along that path.

"Tragedies such as the one that unfolded in Cheshire too often give
rise to ill-conceived legislative responses," the report states.

The Cheshire case, in which two burglars on parole killed a mother and
her two daughters during a July home invasion, sparked a crackdown on
parole-eligible inmates and calls for three-strikes
legislation.

Democrats have voted down several three-strikes proposals that call
for mandatory life sentences for some inmates convicted of a third
violent offense.

Governor M. Jodi Rell ordered a halt to most paroles in September. The
state's prison population reached a record high of nearly 20,000
inmates as a result.

The state's Office of Policy and Management has estimated that the
prison population will dip back below 19,000 by the start of 2009 if
parole rates return to their normal levels and the state funds
hundreds of new halfway house beds as planned.

At least one leading lawmaker has called that projection optimistic,
and a separate estimate shows that the prison population could rise as
high as 25,000 by 2012.

"Unless measures are quickly taken to bring prison populations back
under control, taxpayers are likely to find themselves burdened with
excessive costs," the report warns.

Parole board officials have started to release more inmates, but the
process is slow because of new requirements that the board see all
police reports and court transcripts before approving most releases,
officials have said.

The board has had trouble locating some police reports and
transcripts, officials have said.

The report released Thursday also applauds the state's efforts to deal
mentally ill offenders. Judges approved the release of more than 5,000
offenders after their arrests under a state program that diverts the
mentally ill from jail.

But the report warns that as many as 3,000 to 4,000 of the state's
inmates have a serious or moderate mental illness and need treatment.