ACCELERATED PAROLES ARE BEST ANSWER TO PRISON CROWDING

It's understandable that some county prosecutors are concerned about
the growing number of inmates who are being released from state
prisons. They don't see the wisdom of accelerated paroles, saying it's
no long-term solution to prison crowding - not when they expect to see
the same inmates back in their courts in a matter of months.

That's certainly a risk.

And it's a risk that is of particular interest to those of us living
in Jefferson County, which had more inmates on the December parole
hearing docket than any other county in Alabama.

Of 954 eligible parolees reviewed by The Huntsville Times, 110 were
convicted in Jefferson County. While most of the eligible inmates are
imprisoned on drug charges and property crimes such as burglary and
felony DUI, none of us want to see more criminal activity of any kind
near our homes.

The problem is, what's the alternative?

Alabama is under the gun to do something about its dangerously
overcrowded prisons. As Gov. Bob Riley put it, "When you have 28,000
inmates in facilities that were built for 12,000, you realize you
can't allow that to continue."

If the state doesn't do something, it risks federal courts ordering a
mass release of inmates - or something far worse. Not only are our
prisons crammed with too many inmates, they're supervised by
dangerously few prison guards. The current situation lends itself to
deadly uprisings and jailbreaks.

The problems didn't develop overnight. They grew from years of efforts
to get tough on crime - efforts that weren't backed up with cash.
Alabama simply can't afford to build prisons fast enough to keep up
with its growing inmate population.

The state must make tough choices about how best to use costly prison
cells. While long-term answers include sentencing reform and more
community corrections programs, state officials had little choice in
the short term except to start accelerating paroles for nonviolent
offenders.

In doing so, the state also increased the budget for parole officers
to supervise the newly released inmates. That should help keep some
parolees on the straight and narrow, but it's overly optimistic to
think that all will make the most of this new shot at freedom.

That's unfortunate. But what other choice did the state have?