PACKED PRISONS LEAD TO TALK OF EASIER PAROLES

Mindful of the political perils, the state Parole Board has begun talking
about softening a get-tough-on-crime policy that has helped pack Georgia's
prisons.

At a recent out-of-town retreat, parole board members discussed rules
passed in 1998 that required felons convicted of one of 20 offenses to
serve at least 90 percent of their sentence. They asked staffers to study
the impact of the policy, expressing concerns about its fairness and its
effect on a growing prison population.

"You know we have some problems with it," parole board member Eugene Walker
told board attorney Tracy Masters. "Help validate the kinds of concerns
we're raising and why we need to change it."

Board members realize they are wading into risky political waters. "This is
a sensitive issue," Board Chairman Milton E. "Buddy" Nix Jr. told his
colleagues at the retreat, which was not attended by the public or reporters.

Walker added: "It's so political . . . we don't want to give nobody the
impression that we're going soft on crime."

A week after the Aug. 30-31 retreat in the resort town of Helen, parole
board members insisted that they have not decided to change the policy.

Specifically, board members and staffers discussed the possibility of
narrowing the crimes that fall under the truth-in-sentencing policy at the
meeting.

Notice of the meeting was posted on the agency's Web site, but no mention
is made on the agenda of a discussion of the policy. The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution reviewed an audiotape of the meeting under the state's
open records laws.

The 90 percent policy - along with the Seven Deadly Sins legislation
enacted in 1995 that eliminated parole altogether for seven violent crimes
- - has helped fill Georgia's prisons.

Corrections officials estimate that the prison system has spent $483
million during the past six years housing, feeding and monitoring an
additional 2,715 inmates as a result of the 90 percent policy.

Recently, however, there has been a growing chorus of voices - including
some from the Department of Corrections - contending that the get-tough
policies are straining taxpayers' pocketbooks during tight budget times.
Corrections' annual budget is approaching $900 million, among the highest
in state government. County jails are overflowing, holding more than 4,000
inmates waiting transfer into state prisons.

Three crimes make up the bulk of the 7,764 inmates currently held on 90
percent offenses: aggravated assault, residential burglary and robbery.
Other crimes covered by the policy include child molestation, voluntary
manslaughter, statutory rape and aggravated battery.

Walt Davis, assistant director of clemency, suggested that minor changes to
the policy could make a significant number of potentially lower-risk
inmates eligible for parole earlier.

One idea would be to limit 90 percent crimes to those that involve violence
or the potential for harm, Davis told board members at the retreat. For
example, the policy could be restricted to armed robbers who use a firearm,
burglars who target occupied homes and robbers who hurt their victims.

The 90 percent policy was enacted as a response to threats by elected
officials and candidates for office to eliminate parole in Georgia. Elected
officials say they were responding to calls from the public to crack down
on crime.

On Friday, several key statehouse leaders including the governor,
lieutenant governor and leaders of both legislative chambers said they were
not aware of any discussions to change the policy. All said they will not
support any changes that would endanger the public.

"The No. 1 job of the government is to protect its citizens," said Senate
President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah). "If they need more space [for
inmates], they can put them in tents in the Okefenokee Swamp for all I care."

Tough policies on incarceration are being reconsidered around the nation,
said Vincent Schiraldi of the Justice Policy Institute in Washington.

"A lot of states are scrubbing their prison population for waste," said
Schiraldi, whose group promotes alternatives to prison for certain crimes.
"The waste is incarcerating people who don't need to be incarcerated or
people who are there for longer than they need to be incarcerated."

McNeill Stokes, an Atlanta lawyer who has filed federal lawsuits
challenging the legality of the 90 percent policy, said the parole board
needs to scrap the policy altogether. Stokes said it discourages the board
from considering cases on their merits. "What they're doing is they're
wholesaling everybody," Stokes said.

The parole board has deviated from the policy in 2 percent of the more than
12,000 cases considered since 1998, allowing inmates out on parole before
serving 90 percent of their sentence. In 41 percent of cases, the parole
board has required more time in prison than 90 percent.

Nix asked Masters and two other employees to offer board members a proposal
studying the impact of tinkering with the policy. Board member Mike Light
produced figures a week later that show the bump in the inmate population
resulting from the 90 percent policy has leveled. As a result, the board
decided it no longer need the proposal.

"We only need 7,000 prison beds to keep these folks locked up," Light said.
"These beds are built for those folks."

Light said many other factors are crowding Georgia prisons, including
methamphetamine convictions and a lack of programs to deal with mental
illness and substance abuse.

Some parole board members said they think the policy limits their ability
to release inmates who may not pose a threat. "Our decision-making has to
be fair," said board member Garland Hunt. "Blanket policies or laws that
don't allow discretion are not necessarily the right thing."

Walker agreed.

"I want to be able to make the best decision," Walker said. "I'm looking
for the justice and the fairness in the process."