'TRUTH IN SENTENCING' NEEDS REVIEW

House Corrections Chairman Bennett Malone, D-Carthage, and Senate
Corrections Chairman Robert "Bunky" Huggins, R-Greenwood, say they will
review some of the state's sentencing laws this summer - and one they will
scrutinize is the so-called "Truth in Sentencing" law.

The state "without increasing taxes, can no longer afford to incarcerate
nonviolent offenders for the amount of time they are receiving," Malone
told The Associated Press.

Bravo! A lawmaker has finally come forward to admit that it's not "soft on
crime" to be smart with punishment. The 1995 law requires prisoners to
serve at least 85 percent of their sentences before being eligible for
parole. The federal rule upon which it was modeled applied only to serious
offenses, but Mississippi applied it to all crimes. As a result, the inmate
population swelled from 12,474 in 1995 to more than 20,000 this year. And
costs are skyrocketing.

Up to half of those incarcerated could be better dealt with through
alternate sentencing, including drug courts, which can divert people from
becoming career criminals.

Malone and Huggins should be encouraged to ensure that punishment is swift,
sure, and cost efficient!