PRISONER GLUT IS WORST SINCE '60S

Indiana facilities built for 16,000 now hold 23,000, officials say

State officials say crowding in Indiana's 24 prisons has reached levels not
seen in decades, potentially forcing them to place bunks in prison
classrooms and recreation areas.

"This is the worst crowding we've faced in at least 40 years," said
Department of Correction spokeswoman Pam Pattison.

Larry Landis, a member of the Prison Sentencing Commission established by
the General Assembly in August, goes even further.

"This is the worst it's ever been," he said.

The state's 10 largest prisons are housing thousands more prisoners than
they were built to hold, according to new statistics released by the
Department of Correction. Indiana prisons now have adequate space for about
16,000 offenders but hold nearly 23,000.

Although prison officials say they have not yet seen an increase in
violence, they acknowledge they are worried the crowding will escalate
tensions among inmates and imperil staff.

The last time state prisons were as crowded was in the 1960s, when officials
moved bunks into gymnasiums and other prison spaces, Pattison said.

Prison officials already have canceled inmate drug treatment sessions and
education training at facilities in Rockville and Putnamville because of a
lack of teachers and classroom space.

There are waiting lists for jobs and education programs, leaving many
inmates idle, Pattison said.

"Idle inmates present a safety issue," she said.

Projections show that the adult male population, the largest group of
inmates, will grow each year until 2008, when it will reach more than
28,000. Taxpayers pay nearly $21,000 a year to house, clothe and feed each
inmate.

Building more cells is not an option, state leaders say. The state faces an
$810 million budget deficit. Legislators already have capped the Department
of Correction's two-year operating budget at about $1 billion.

There is additional space for 2,300 inmates at prisons in New Castle and
Miami, but the correction department lacks the $37.5 million needed to
operate the additional cells.

The combination of the prison crowding and the state's fiscal problems has
some calling for easing penalties for certain drug offenses.

Mandatory drug sentences and other tough crime measures have swelled prison
populations in Indiana and throughout the country, said Landis, who is
executive director of the Indiana Public Defender Council.

A person found carrying three grams of cocaine in Indiana faces up to 20
years in prison, Landis said. One gram of cocaine is the size of a packet of
sugar.

"That is more time than someone would get if they broke into a house and
raped a woman," said Landis, who's also a member of the legislation
commission created to recommend ways to ease crowding.

"We are a society addicted to incarceration. There are a lot of people in
prison who don't need to be."

Legislators say they hope to address the issue in the full legislative
session that starts in January. Those steps could include allowing judges
more flexibility in sentencing and letting more inmates enter work-release
programs.

"We are going to have to do more community corrections, because this is
something we just can't build our way out of," said Rep. William Crawford,
D-Indianapolis, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

There's a political risk of appearing soft on crime, acknowledged Senate
President Pro Tempore Robert Garton, R-Columbus. But Garton said the issue
should be considered.

"It's time to look at the (mandatory) sentences (for certain crimes),
because that is causing a lot of your prison buildup," Garton said.