STRICT SENTENCES TAX PRISON FUNDS

State Looks To Jail More Criminals For Less Money

The state prison population is increasing rapidly at the same time that
money to house it continues to decrease, state lawmakers were told Thursday.

In a meeting with officials from the Department of Corrections and the
state Board of Pardons and Paroles, a handful of legislators acknowledged
that they are responsible for passing laws that have jammed Georgia's prisons.

State taxpayers will spend about $900 million this year to incarcerate
47,000 people, the nation's sixth-largest prison population. While the
nation's prison population grew by 1.1 percent in 2001, Georgia's grew by
3.9 percent, according to figures presented to legislators.

One of the factors increasing the population is the so-called "Seven Deadly
Sins" legislation in 1995. The law requires anyone convicted of murder,
kidnapping, rape, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated
sexual molestation or armed robbery to serve a minimum of 10 years in prison.

"What we have done is taken a lot of the discretion away from the judicial
system," state Rep. Alan Powell (D-Hartwell) said. "And we have created a
monster of a system."

Further, the parole board passed a so-called "90 percent policy" in 1998.
It requires anyone convicted of an additional 20 violent crimes to serve 90
percent of their sentence before being eligible for parole.

Meanwhile, the Department of Corrections budget has decreased steadily
since it peaked in fiscal 2003 at $957 million, acting Assistant
Commissioner Alan Adams told about 20 legislators. This year's budget
dropped to $893 million, and the budget proposed for fiscal 2005, which
starts July 1, is proposed at $847 million. As a result, Corrections is
recommending a host of cuts, including reducing the number of teachers and
counselors inside prisons, getting rid of the chaplaincy program and
closing three state prisons and several other facilities.

Moving inmates from prisons that would close will affect county finances.
More than 3,000 inmates awaiting transfer to state prisons are in local
county jails --- many of them already crowded. The state pays the county
about $20 per inmate per day to house them until it can pick them up, but
it is not enough to cover the costs, according to Terry Norris, executive
vice president of the Georgia Sheriffs' Association.

"It's a huge concern," Norris said. "It's a greater concern now than ever,
as the state faces tough economic times."

State Rep. Gerald Greene (D-Cuthbert), chairman of the House committee that
oversees Corrections, said legislators will need to start looking at
innovative ways to save money. They could include diverting nonviolent
inmates into prison alternatives to save beds, he said. "We don't want to
say we're getting soft on crime --- certainly, we're not," Greene said. "We
are talking about doing things a little differently ."