S.C. CORRECTIONS OFFICIAL CALLS FOR PLAN TARGETING FEMALE OFFENDERS

Numbers Growing; Substance-Abuse Problems Noted

COLUMBIA -- Women are increasing as a percentage of the state's offender
population, and the director of the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole
and Pardons Services says new tailored strategies are needed. "Supervising
the female offender is totally different than supervising the male
offender," said DPPPS Director Jim McClain. "When I came here a few months
ago, I realized immediately that this department had to come up with
strategies that took into account those differences."

On Tuesday, McClain held the first in a series of forums to seek advice
from drug abuse counselors, defense attorneys, academics, his own officers,
people who operate domestic abuse shelters and offenders on improving the
department's approach.

McClain told the dozen or so participants that 10 years ago, women made up
13 percent of the state offender population. Today, they comprise 17
percent. About 6,000 of the 35,000 offenders directly supervised by
McClain's agency are women. There are approximately 1,700 women
incarcerated in South Carolina state prisons.

In York County, there are 375 women under the supervision of the DPPPS. In
Lancaster County, there are 95; Chester County has 42.

Nationally, while the number of men under correctional control increased by
45 percent during the past decade, the number of women increased by 83
percent, according to the results of a three-year National Institute of
Corrections study on female offenders published in June.

Female offenders tend to be nonviolent, but the majority have
substance-abuse problems, Sumter County probation officer Polly Smith told
the group. In addition, most have been the victim of domestic or sexual
abuse, she said. Most female offenders have at least high school diploma,
making them a much better educated group than male offenders on average.
The majority became em-broiled in the criminal justice system after
committing either drug, traffic or property offenses.

"If we can get them off drugs and get them a job, they usually turn
around," Smith said.

Sammie Brown, a S.C. Department of Corrections program coordinator, said
drug treatment staff for women's prisons has been significantly reduced by
budget cuts. She also said job training opportunities have de-clined.

Kathy Riley, an administrator with The Women's Shelter in Columbia, advised
McClain that halfway house beds are needed to help women transition from
prison.

In South Carolina, there are only 16 state-run halfway house beds for
females, and only about 200 for males, Anne Walker, executive director of
the Alston Wilkes Society, said. Private non-profit shelters also have long
waiting lists.

McClain said one of his priorities this year will be to lobby legislators
to invest about $1 million to reopen a Colum-bia residential halfway house
restitution center. The center was closed due to budget cuts last year.
McClain wants the center to serve women exclusively.

Two such centers operate in Spartanburg and Charles-ton, and McClain said
they are highly successful in helping offenders clear up crime-related
financial obligations while remaining drug free and adjusting to full-time work.