SENTENCING LAWS MAY INCREASE PRISONERS

Charleston, S.C. (AP) -The state's prisons may soon be housing more inmates
because of mandatory sentencing laws, and the agency plans to ask lawmakers
for about $50 million more next year to handle the increasing numbers,
according to records from a prison reform task force.

Corrections Department Director Jon Ozmint told members of the task force
his agency needs the extra funds to operate new facilities, raise
correction officers' pay and provide additional substance abuse treatment,
The Greenville News reported.

The agency has been one of the hardest hit by the budget shortfall --
cutting programs, education and hundreds of workers in recent years due to
budget cuts.

The agency has had its budget cut by $51 million in the past three years,
ran a $28 million deficit during the last fiscal year and is projected to
run nearly $12 million in the red this year.

The new request might be hard to fund, one task force member said.

"As a practical matter, budget projections being very dismal and being
similar to last year, significant increases for any agency are going to be
very difficult," House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, said.

The state has 24,290 inmates in 29 prisons, almost 1,000 over its capacity,
records show. Prison officials project almost 31,000 inmates in 2007, when
"truth-in-sentencing" and other laws reduce the number of inmates released.

While the inmate population has grown in recent years, the staff has been
cut. Since 2000, the agency has lost 12 percent of its security staff and
24 percent of its other employees due to the state's budget problems.

The agency's ratio of inmates to guards is now 11 to 1, more than double
the national average of five to 1, records show.

"Everything he's asking for is needed," said Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville,
chairman of the Senate Corrections and Penology Committee and the task force.

If the projections are accurate and no diversion programs are created, the
prison system wants to add 576 beds to three existing prisons and build
four new prisons, including two 1,500-bed facilities, over the next five years.

The new construction would cost $327 million and would be paid for with
bond funds. The agency is proposing $80 million in bond funding next year,
though Fair said he doesn't think there will be a bond bill then.