BILLS TO RELIEVE CROWDING AT STATE PRISONS

JACKSON - House Corrections Chairman Bennett Malone says Mississippi's
prison system came out ahead this legislative session.

Bills designed to relieve prison crowding and save the state money will
become law July 1 after failing to win approval in the past.

One bill already signed by Gov. Haley Barbour would give certain nonviolent
inmates one day off for every they work in prison programs, instead of the
one day off for every three days of work that they have been getting.

Another would make some terminally ill inmates eligible for early release
if they pose no threat to the community.

Malone, D-Carthage, said the bills help alleviate the crowding that
developed in Mississippi prisons after the 1995 truth-in-sentencing law
that required inmates convicted of various felonies to serve 85 percent of
their sentences.

A similar trusty time-off bill was rejected by the 2003 Legislature, but
this year lawmakers were ready to act, Malone said.

"The Legislature is very cautious. It takes a while sometime to really
educate," Malone said recently. "Maybe we overreacted on the 85 percent law
and we do have a crisis staring us in the face - both budgetary and a
shortage of beds."

Lawmakers approved a $266.1 million Department of Corrections budget for
the fiscal year that begins July 1. That compares with the $285 million
that Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said his agency will spend in the
current fiscal year.

"As you can tell, we're doing some fiscally responsible things. Nothing
will negatively affect public safety at all," Epps said.

Malone said House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, directed him to cut $40
million from the corrections budget.

"Commissioner Epps and myself sat down and put our heads together and put a
package together to do that," Malone said.

A component of the package was a bill that would shorten the time a
nonviolent inmate has to wait between Parole Board reviews.

Malone said some inmates had been set off for years. Set off is the term
for the period of time between parole board reviews. The new legislation
limits that time to one year for nonviolent inmates.

"You have an inmate who has served a certain amount of time, that's been a
good inmate and he's not in there for a serious crime," Malone said. "He
goes into the Parole Board and they set him off for five years. Well, that
takes all the incentive away from that inmate to be a good inmate."

Former state Sen. Glenn Hamilton of Maben, who has been chairman of the
five-member Parole Board since February, said the current board has only
set off violent offenders for more than a year. He said previous boards may
have set off nonviolent inmates for longer periods.

Hamilton said if a drug offender enrolled in a drug treatment program is
set off more than a year, it's to give the inmate time to complete the therapy.

As of Monday, there were 21,136 inmates held in state prison facilities.
Hamilton said the Parole Board reviews about 400 cases a month.