PRISON REFORMS FACE UPHILL FIGHT NEW CHIEF BATTLES BUDGET PINCH, GET-TOUGH
ATTITUDE

Hardwick --- The inmates listen carefully to the well-dressed visitor whom
they've gathered around in the recreation yard of Men's State Prison.

He's talking about their freedom, and these convicted felons strain in the
blistering Middle Georgia sun to hear every word.

"In Georgia, we have a little bit of a crisis in the number of people we
have locked up," state Corrections Commissioner James Donald tells the 100
or so men. "We have to figure out who it is we're afraid of . . . if you're
predatory and you're one of those bad guys, maybe you should stay in
prison. But if you made a mistake . . . we ought to be talking more
seriously about restoration and rehabilitation."

Appointed by Gov. Sonny Perdue in November, Donald has spent six months
visiting more than half of Georgia's 87 prison facilities and talking with
wardens, guards, counselors, administrators and inmates. Now he's beginning
to unveil his plan for the future of corrections in Georgia, aimed at
stemming the growth of the inmate population and reducing the massive cost
to taxpayers.

Donald, 55, a retired Army two-star general who was last stationed at
Atlanta's Fort McPherson in 2003, has no previous experience in
corrections. But it didn't take him long to understand some basic facts:
Georgia prisons are packed and taxpayers are footing a bill of almost $900
million a year --- the fifth-largest expense in state government, behind
only education and health care-related spending.

More than 48,000 convicted felons are imprisoned in Georgia, and the number
of people locked up has more than doubled since 1993, fueled by tougher
sentencing laws and stricter parole policies. At the current growth rate of
2,000 inmates per year, by 2011 it would cost the state $728 million to
build 14 new prisons and another $252 million per year to operate them.

Donald believes that inmates fit into two categories. There are violent and
repeat offenders who should serve hard time, and there are nonviolent
offenders who need education, job skills and substance abuse counseling to
help make sure they don't return to prison.

With that philosophy in mind, Donald is proposing alternatives to
traditional prison for some offenders. But he is beginning to encounter
resistance from a public eager to punish criminals severely and state
legislators reluctant to spend scarce dollars on rehabilitation. Donald is
undeterred.

"If we're going to effect change, we've got to educate people that this is
what we're trying to do to stop this rampant growth in the prison
population," Donald said. He and his executive assistant, Brian Owens, plan
to spread their message by speaking to civic clubs, chambers of commerce
and other groups.

Making bad choices

Many inmates are not bad people but have simply made terrible choices,
Donald argues. Opportunities can help them make better choices.

Donald, the son of a Newton, Miss., cotton farmer, often tells people that
his education saved him from having to pick cotton for the rest of his
life. Donald graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1970 and later
earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of
Missouri.

Experimentation with rehabilitation programs has shown that they are less
expensive than the $18,000 annual cost of keeping an inmate in prison. And
they result in a lower rate of return to prison. "We do a good job of
keeping them locked up, but we want to change the way they think," Donald
often says.

One alternative to prison, for example, is day reporting centers. Such
centers allow offenders to go home in the evenings, while offering
intensive drug and alcohol counseling, educational programs and job-skills
training during the day.

According to corrections officials, inmates released from prison have a 27
percent chance of going back to prison within three years, while those who
attend a center have a 7 percent chance of returning to prison. Donald
wants to build more of those centers. It costs $17.5 million a year to
operate a 1,000-bed prison, while the state can build 34 day reporting
centers for that amount.

'It breaks my heart'

While Donald is earning praise from inmate advocates for his approach, he
faces an uphill struggle to see some of his ideas come to fruition. Some
require funding from the Georgia Legislature; others require changes in
state law.

Rep. Gerald Greene (D-Cuthbert), chairman of a House committee that
oversees the state prison system, said the state's tight budget is forcing
legislators to make difficult decisions. Programs seen by legislators as
beneficial to prisoners generally don't fare well when slicing the budget
pie, Greene said.

"It's going to be a tough sell," he said. "We have a crisis in the budget,
and I know that he [Donald] wants to talk about his vision --- and it's
great --- but right now our focus must be on the budget crisis."

Donald has taken Greene and other legislators on tours of prisons, but the
Corrections Department has struggled to win converts. In Macon, it has been
forced to find a new location for a day reporting center after residents
said they didn't want it in their neighborhood. In south Fulton County,
residents are opposing a probation detention center, another alternative to
prison that Donald supports. People convicted of felonies spend a short
period, three to six months, in the center and then are released to serve
probation.

Meanwhile, the department recently eliminated more than 150 counselor
positions. The counselors' duties included providing inmates with
individual and group therapy.

"It breaks my heart," Donald said of letting the counselors go. "That's
what influences whether or not a guy comes back." Donald said he's not
concerned that his approach will be viewed as soft on crime. To him, it
boils down to a simple question that eventually will face Georgians.

"Do you want taxes raised?" he asked. "There is no way that the state of
Georgia can continue to accept a 2,000-a-year growth in inmate population .
. . without considering that as an option. And I think that's where I get
their [Georgians'] attention. It resonates quite well, I think, with
Georgians that we need to be looking at alternative ways of dealing with this."

State parole board Chairman Milton E. "Buddy" Nix Jr. agrees with Donald
that prisoners benefit from rehabilitation programs. Nix lamented, for
example, that inmates were cut off in 1994 from receiving Pell Grants to
earn college degrees while behind bars.

"Ninety-five percent [of inmates] will be getting out, whether we like it
or not, and if we care about the safety of our state, we'd better think of
better preparing this 95 percent to take care of their family and take care
of themselves," Nix said. But Nix, a former FBI agent and former head of
the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, cautions that releasing inmates early
just to ease crowding could jeopardize public safety.

People who work to help inmates re-enter society say that Donald is on the
right track.

"This man has the greatest vision for the state prisons than any man that I
have ever seen," said Dot Pinkerton, director of the Lightouse Missions in
Macon, who has worked for 24 years screening inmates for potential release.
She helps them find jobs and provides housing.

Pinkerton says drug abusers and sex offenders are not getting the treatment
they need in prison to help keep them from committing new crimes.

"We're in a sad situation," Pinkerton said. "I think the politicians should
take a better look at it . . . and begin to notice, 'Hey, we need to do
something about this.' We as taxpayers have an interest in the prison system."