JAIL, TREATMENT BOTH NECESSARY

Greenville County should move ahead with its plan to expand the jail, but
it must also invest in drug, alcohol treatment.

Greenville County needs both an adequate jail to relieve oppressive
crowding and treatment options for drug and alcohol abusers who cost our
county tens of millions of dollars each year.

The County Council is divided on which is the more pressing need. But
pitting one priority against another is counterproductive. Both sides
should concede what is obvious and reasonable: Greenville urgently needs to
expand its jail, and this county also needs to increase its commitment to
treating substance abuse.

The majority of the council - most vocally the Republicans - stands firmly
behind a jail expansion plan that could cost up to $23 million. It would
add desperately needed beds to the Greenville County Detention Center, and
it would also add a juvenile detention facility. Right now the jail
averages about 1,200 inmates. But the jail only has about 950 beds. With
such crowding, this county must create more bed space or risk facing sanctions.

District 25 Democrat Lottie Gibson, the most vocal critic of jail
expansion, is rightly concerned about the breathtaking growth of the jail
population. In just five years, the jail population has increased by 50
percent, from about 800 inmates on average in 1999 to more than 1,200
inmates per day now. Greenville is not alone. Richland and Charleston
counties have also experienced rapid inmate growth. But none is as dramatic
as Greenville's.

Gibson wants the county to invest in more substance abuse treatment. She
makes her case by directly linking the crowding problem with the prevalence
of drug and alcohol abuse in Greenville County. Most crimes, Gibson notes,
are influenced by the use of drugs and alcohol - from domestic violence to
countless property crimes.

But Greenville has a poor record of offering treatment to addicts. A study
commissioned by county's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center estimates that more
than 30,000 Greenville County residents are in need of treatment. The
Phoenix Center, which receives 1 percent of its budget from the county and
offers reasonably priced substance abuse treatment, has just 16 beds.
Private providers are mostly out of reach of the indigent - the drug
abusers who are most likely to contribute to the jail crowding.

An investment in treatment and prevention has proven to be wise. It is far
more costly to repeatedly incarcerate and prosecute those offenders who
might be receptive to treatment. Not all addicts are. Treatment is a road
riddled with failure, and is successfully navigated only by those addicts
fully committed to wellness.

Still, it is worthwhile for the county to identify those addicts receptive
to treatment and provide them with help. This county's successful Drug
Court is predicated on that concept. It allows participants to avoid jail
by completing a strict outpatient program. Our county should support
duplicating that kind of success.

Building a safe, adequate jail and providing substance abusers with
treatment are not mutually exclusive. The County Council must value both,
and each side must agree that both are necessary.