STATE JAIL SYSTEM PITCHED AS WAY TO CUT PRISON POPULATION

TAMPA - The secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections is
proposing a state jail system for prison inmates serving less than 18
months behind bars.

A typical inmate would be a nonviolent drug offender or probation
violator.

Walter McNeil pitched his concept Monday to some Tampa area
lawmakers.

"It sounds interesting to me," said state Sen. Arthenia Joyner,
D-Tampa. "I'm looking for a way to reduce our prison population and
weed out the people who should not be there anyway."

A jail is primarily a place for pretrial detention, while a prison is
for people convicted of a felony. Inmates can serve sentences of up to
a year in a Florida county jail.

The "state jail" initiative is new in Florida, and it likely would
begin with a pilot program, McNeil said. It is not viewed as an option
for local judges to use, he said.

In the department's current plan, new buildings would have to be
constructed, and "state jail" inmates would be able to stay within
their home counties.

"Families can come and visit, and inmates can maintain better contact
with their employers," department spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said.

The department is studying the concept and may present a bill to
lawmakers in the next legislative session, Plessinger said. After
that, it likely would take another 18 months to two years to open a
state jail, she said.

State jails, McNeil said, could better help prison inmates straighten
out their lives after drug convictions. This would prevent future
crimes, he said.

"Being smart on crime is the equivalent of being tough on crime," he
said.

Some of the money used to build state jails would come from money for
building state prisons, he said.

Florida's prison population is rising and is expected to top 100,000
this year, according to the corrections department.

The department still needs to pitch the idea to counties, law
enforcement and lawmakers.

Rep. Seth McKeel, R-Lakeland, said McNeil's concept might "have some
merit," but the lawmaker said he hasn't had a chance to study it.

McKeel said the concept would need backing from judges.