LAWMAKERS SEEK SUPPORT FOR MOVE TO CUT COSTS, RELIEVE CROWDING IN STATE PRISONS

A growing number of cash-strapped states with overcrowded prisons are
looking at programs that would send non-violent drug offenders to treatment
programs instead of prison.

South Carolina lawmakers said it would probably be next session before they
could seriously consider such a move.

Rep. Joe Neal, D-Richland County, said he is working on legislation that
would include mandatory drug treatment for non-violent drug offenders to
help decrease the number of young black men in prison. He said it would be
similar to one approved overwhelmingly by California voters.

"What you're finding is that many states are now revisiting this
lock-'em-up and throw away the key approach to drug enforcement," Neal
said. "We can't continue to afford to spend tens of millions of dollars on
incarceration. We have to find alternatives."

Fellow Democrat Fletcher Smith, Greenville, has joined Neal to try to drum
up support. Smith said the program would treat people's addiction without
having to pay the money to warehouse them in prison.

"It's more of a health problem than it is a crime problem," Smith said.
"It's not like you're trying to free somebody who's a big-time drug dealer.
It's somebody who's hooked on drugs serving a prison term for being on drugs."

The state spent a little more than $13,000 per inmate in 2002, according to
the Department of Corrections.

The state would see a substantial savings considering that treatment would
cost roughly $4,000 per inmate, Neal and Smith said.

"I think it would save millions of dollars, maybe over a hundred million
dollars," Smith said. "I think we spend millions of dollars housing these
folks and we still have to give them medical treatment while they're in there."

State Sen. Mike Fair of Greenville said there are plans to create a task
force that will look at the issue over the summer and maybe eventually make
a recommendation to the General Assembly.

"There's not enough time this year to really do justice to a debate of any
kind, really," Fair said.

Fair said a lot of consideration will be given to young people and first
offenders. He said it could save money and lives. "It's about more than
just saving money," he said. "The fewer kids who mess their lives up
translates into fewer adults messing their lives up."

Not everyone is in favor of the alternative. John Graham Altman, a
Republican lawmaker from Charleston, said he doesn't think a bill proposing
drug treatment instead of prison would pass the house.

"I don't think budget shortages should have anything to do with how we
treat criminals," said Altman. "I don't think convicted prisoners should
live any better than the South Carolina National Guard on peacetime field
maneuvers. That doesn't cost a lot of money."

Altman, an attorney, said that under the current system, defendants can
change their life between the time they're arrested and tried. "I don't
mind first offenders getting a little break," he said. "I believe I'd crack
down on recidivism, however."

Neal said one only has to look at the fact that education programs have
been cut to see that a change is needed.

"It is unfortunate that there are still some others who simply think that
we can continue to incarcerate without doing a better job of
rehabilitating," he said.

State Sen. Larry Martin of Pickens County said he would be non-committal
until he heard a proposal. Letting out some first-time offenders found with
small quantities may be alright but someone found with 50 pounds of
marijuana, even if its their first offense, "needs to go to jail," he said.

Both Greenville Police Chief Willie Johnson and Sheriff Steve Loftis said
they support the drug court in Greenville County, which is designed for
habitual drug offenders with no history of violent crime.

One is run in Greenville and Pickens counties by the 13th Circuit
Solicitor's Office. The 18-month program is designed to get addicts off
drugs and into jobs. Officials say it only costs about $2,500 to put them
through the program.

Johnson and Loftis said they would like to know the specifics of any other
proposal before endorsing it.

"For those people who are serving time, I'd say we need to screen them
carefully and make sure they are going to go to treatment and stick by the
guidelines set for them during treatment," Johnson said. "If not, they're
going back to jail."

Arizona and Kansas have also recently adopted similar policies, while
voters in Ohio last November voted against a resolution.

Marc Mauer, assistant director of The Sentencing Project, a non-profit
group that advocates sentencing reform, said the economy is a big reason
states are looking at alternatives.

"I think the budget is probably the key factor right now," Mauer said.
"States are recognizing that the 'tough on crime' policies they've passed
in the last 10 years or so come with a pretty big cost and it's tough to
justify that right now."

Mauer said they're still waiting to see what the results are in California,
though it appears a substantial number are being diverted to other options.

"We can do it down here," Smith said, "if we just have the will."