BACKYARD PRISONS

The more people who get long sentences, the more facilities we'll need

More talk about converting a former facility for mentally retarded patients
into one for male parolees with mental health and drug abuse issues has
folks in Decatur naturally upset.

"We don't need another prison in Decatur," chided state Rep. Bill Dukes,
D-Decatur. He was referring to the state work-release center, which handles
as many as 430 inmates, in the city and nearby Limestone Correctional
Facility, which has beds for 2,086 prisoners.

Dukes' and Decatur's concerns are understandable. So is the state's idea -
proposed in one form or another for about a year - that the Lurleen B.
Wallace Center, which closed last November after 32 years, could be
converted fairly easily into a transition center for prisoners. Of course,
the state must find about $5 million to do it.

But while the issue may have Decatur stirred up, it's not the only area of
the state that faces the possibility of having more prison facilities,
halfway houses and the like. It's a problem that, if things keep going as
they are, will be in virtually everybody's back yard.

As noted earlier this week, Alabama ranks fifth among states in the
percentage of its population behind bars. The reasons are varied, but those
that jump out at you are a draconian Legislature's play-to-the-crowd
insistence that even minor crimes demand great punishment and an inadequate
education system and too few economic opportunities.

Recent efforts to impose rational rules for sentencing haven't gained
enough political traction for passage. Tight money has kept the level of
alternative sentencing and counseling far short of what it could be.

So, the 159-acre campus at the Wallace Center is obviously attractive to
beleaguered state officials with too many prisoners and not enough room for
them.

But even if the Wallace Center is renovated for prisoners, other areas of
the state shouldn't think they will escape similar issues. The longer we
keep warehousing more and more people who aren't violent and putting them
behind bars for longer and longer sentences, the more facilities we will need.

And no part of the state will be off-limits as a possible site.