IS GEORGIA'S PRISON POPULATION GROWING?

Statistics Show 1 In 15 Adults In Georgia Is Under Correctional
Supervision

Much has changed in Georgia's prison system since Terry Barnard was a
freshman state lawmaker in 1994.

Back then, the state had about 24,000 prisoners and a corrections
budget of $400 million.

But in the wake of stiff crime bills, mandatory sentences and a
general public approval of getting tough on crime, that budget has
ballooned to almost $1 billion. There are now more than 53,000
inmates in Georgia's prison system, with another 166,000 on
probation or parole.

A U.S. Department of Justice report released this week revealed that,
as of December 2005, one in every 32 adult Americans is under some
form of correctional supervision. But in Georgia, that number now is
one in 15.

"It doesn't sound very good," allowed Barnard, R-Glennville, chairman
of the House State Institutions and Property Committee.

"I wish that number was much lower. It is a sad commentary that so
many people are locked away in Georgia. But they didn't get there for
any other reason than they broke the law and a judge and jury made
the decision that they needed to spend some time away."

Georgia, with the ninth-largest population in the United States, now
ranks fifth in prison population, passing Michigan last year.

State corrections officials balked when the Justice Department report
claimed Georgia had seen a 4 percent decrease in prisoners in the
past year. Georgia Department of Corrections spokeswoman Yolanda
Thompson said that figure was incorrect.

"During fiscal year 2006, we had a major increase in prison
population, by 9.4 percent," she said. "Our population has steadily
increased over the past 18 years, and continues to increase."

Bureau of Justice Statistics spokesman Stu Smith said he was unaware
of the discrepancy.

"We get our numbers from state officials," he said.

Kara Gotsch, director of advocacy for the Washington, D.C.-based
Sentencing Project, says Georgia's high incarceration rate is
creating problems for the African-American communities from which
many of the inmates come.

More than 60 percent of Georgia prisoners are black, a statistic that
Gotsch calls "staggering," considering that blacks make up only 28
percent of the state's population.

With many of its men locked up, "the collateral consequences of
incarceration has an impact on communities," Gotsch said. "These
black men are missing, and it has a direct impact on the children in
these neighborhoods."

Gotsch blames the U.S. prison boom on the war on drugs and mandatory
minimum sentences that have effectively taken discretion out of the
hands of judges. She says the high rate of recidivism -- about
two-thirds of all prisoners will re-offend within three years of
their release -- is an indication of a justice system that fails to
provide adequate support after imprisonment and bars opportunities
for convicted felons.

"There's a black mark put on anyone leaving the prison system," she
said. "Many of them can't find jobs; they can't find housing. The
cards are stacked against them."

And the number of those out on probation is growing. In Hall County,
there are about 2,000 felony probationers, according to Kim O'Neil,
manager of the county's state probation office. O'Neil has a staff of
10 probation officers to handle that caseload.

"We see the bulk of those each month," she said. "At the end of the
month we are slammed. The parking lot is full. We stay busy."

Women, too, are contributing to the inmate population growth. While
traditionally a small part of the prison population, the number of
female inmates has increased by 2.6 percent nationally since 2005,
according to the Justice Department. In Georgia, the female prisoner
population grew by more than 28 percent in the past year, from 2,763
to 3,553.

And the demographics of the female population is changing as it
grows, Thompson said.

In October 2005, 49.2 percent of female prisoners were white. Today,
the majority of women in Georgia prisons are white -- 53.5 percent.

"You see how meth is impacting the system," Thompson said, referring
to a drug that is consumed more by whites than blacks. "Part of what
is driving the increase of women in the prison system is the
methamphetamine epidemic. And more women across the board are
committing more serious offenses."

Barnard believes citizens are in favor of the billion-dollar
corrections budget that has come as the result of tough crime bills.

"When you get tough like that, it's going to cost," he said. "But to
this day, I have not had a constituent call me and say we're spending
too much on corrections."

Gotsch, of the Sentencing Project, believes the public would favor
alternatives to prison for nonviolent offenders and thinks the
government should re-assess what constitutes a felony.

"If someone possesses drugs because they're a drug user, that's not a
criminal justice issue, that's a public health issue," she said.

Barnard said lawmakers are open to sentencing alternatives for some
nonviolent offenses, but said it's wrong to dismiss drug offenses as
victimless crimes.

"You can't take them as not being serious," he said.

Ultimately, he said, the citizens of Georgia dictate the policy, and
for now at least, that policy is one of "locking people up and
keeping them locked up for a good long time," Barnard said.

"There may come a time when that changes, but what I hear is we've
got to continue to do more to make sure that we're safe," Barnard
said.