PRISON DIRECTOR BACKS ALTERNATIVE SENTENCING

New Bill Would Apply To Nonviolent Offenders

COLUMBIA--Corrections Director Jon Ozmint says his agency needs
alternatives to prison for some nonviolent offenders and greater
flexibility on cutting inmate's sentences for good behavior.

The alternatives are needed in part because lawmakers will not keep giving
the prison system more money even though South Carolina will finish 2003
with 1,100 more inmates than the year before, Ozmint said.

On behalf of Ozmint, House Speaker David Wilkins and three other lawmakers
have prefiled a bill that would allow nonviolent offenders serving less
than five years in prison to be eligible for programs such as house arrest,
electronic monitoring and daily supervision.

In an opinion article published Dec. 27 in The (Columbia) State, Ozmint
said alternative sentences have been successful in new drug courts across
the state.

"This would be an entirely new idea in sentencing, giving offenders a 'real
prison' experience first, while offering an opportunity to advance to an
alternate form of incarceration," Ozmint wrote.

He decided on the proposal after considering what lawmakers would accept in
this session.

"This is just the first step," Ozmint told The Associated Press on Friday.

Other ideas Ozmint set aside for now include reducing sentences for
nonviolent inmates who get their high school diplomas and releasing inmates
at their last parole hearing before their sentence ends instead of waiting
months for them to "max out."

The current proposal would expand to more inmates good behavior credits
that can shorten sentences while giving prison administrators more power to
issue or take away the credits.

Violent offenders, which make up about half of all inmates, would not be
eligible for the alternative sentences, and the new time for good behavior
policy would not effect anyone serving a life sentence.

"The enactment of this legislation should result in a gradual, but slight
reduction in the growth of our inmate population in a manner consistent
with public safety considerations," Ozmint wrote in the newspaper opinion
article.

The Corrections Department will end this year with more than 24,000
inmates, an increase of 2,500 prisoners in three years, and requires a
budget of close to $300 million, Ozmint wrote.

The agency ran a $21 million deficit last fiscal year and has lost more
than $70 million in funding since the state's budget woes began about four
years ago.

On one side, the budget constraints have made South Carolina prisons the
second-most efficient in the nation, spending about $12,300 per inmate per
year. On the other side, Ozmint and his predecessors have slashed so much
the director has said there is almost nothing left to cut.

The proposals reverse a get-tough trend in South Carolina of harsher sentences.

"We've painted all our felons with the same brush for some years," said
Senate Corrections and Penology Committee Chairman Mike Fair. "But there is
some validity to treating violent and nonviolent offenders differently."

Fair and Wilkins, both Greenville Republicans, expect the bill to get
serious consideration when the Legislature reconvenes this month. Democrats
who have been calling for a different approach to the state's "lock them up
and throw away the key" mentality likely will support the measure, too,
said committee member Sen. Kay Patterson.

Republicans "haven't had a change of heart," said Patterson, D-Columbia.
"They just know they don't have any more money to keep locking people up."

Violent offenders need to stay in prison, he said, but he has never seen a
reason to keep nonviolent criminals in prison for long stretches.

Another provision of the law would allow prison officials to restore some
good behavior credits to inmates who lose them because of misbehavior.
Also, inmates who commit "a particularly meritorious act" that prevents or
lessens an attack on an employee or other person can have up to 180 days
shaved off their sentences, according to the bill. The bill has a few
sticks to go along with the carrots. If a court determines an inmate is
filing frivolous lawsuits, the credits can be taken away.

Prisoner advocates appreciate the moves but also want changes made to a
parole system that rarely releases offenders until they reach the end of
their sentences, said Lillian Swanson, director of the South Carolina
chapter of Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants.