AS PRISONS FILL, STATE LOOKS TO RELAX SENTENCING LAWS

JEFFERSON CITY - Meet Tony Meyer, a 30-year-old white man serving a 10-year
prison sentence for making and selling drugs.

Growing up in rural west-central Missouri, Meyer started smoking marijuana
at age 14. He dropped out of school two years later while still in eighth
grade. And he began using cocaine and speed when he started driving to
weekend parties in Sedalia, the biggest city around.

By age 18, Meyer was in prison for assault, although he insists he was
simply breaking up a fight involving a friend. Since then, he has been in
and out of the slammer several times, usually for drug offenses.

In many regards, Meyer is a fairly typical Missouri prisoner. His age,
gender, race, crimes and repeat sentences are all fairly average, according
to statistics kept by the Department of Corrections.

Meyer also is part of the reason that Missouri's prison population has
doubled since 1991 to about 30,200 inmates - about the number of residents
of Missouri's 20th largest city.

As it is, Missouri's prisoners are dispersed among about 20 institutions,
many of which have been built in the past decade to accommodate the rising
tide of new inmates.

Now lawmakers, many of whom had advocated longer sentences as part of a
tough-on-crime approach, are looking for ways to slow the prison growth.

One strong motivation is the state's budget troubles, and the fact that it
costs roughly $13,000 a year to supply housing, food and oversight for each
inmate.

But equally motivating for some lawmakers is a growing belief that prison
time - especially for drug users - is not a very effective correction tool.

Among the converts is state Sen. Harold Caskey, a former Bates County
prosecutor who has sponsored many of the state's recent criminal bills. As
a former chairman of the Senate Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee,
he also undertook an exhaustive study of the state's sentencing laws.

"We have found, like many other states, that mandatory sentences do not
correct recidivism," said Caskey, D-Butler. "But it does add to the prison
population."

Caskey is sponsoring legislation that encourages judges to refer
first-time, nonviolent offenders to 120-day "shock sentences" or drug
treatment programs, then release them on probation or parole.

The bill also allows other nonviolent offenders to petition for release
after 120 days in prison. And it reduces the maximum sentence for the
lowest category of felonies - things like drug possession, bad checks and
some burglaries - from five years to four years.

If signed into law, the bill is projected to reduce the prison population
by at least 1,542 inmates a year, saving the state more than $21 million.
The bill has passed the Senate and awaits House debate before the
legislative session ends May 16.

Similar proposals already have been enacted, or are pending, in other states.

In Kansas, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed a law just two weeks ago allowing
community treatment programs as an alternative to prison for some drug
offenders.

In Washington, the state Senate has passed legislation allowing some
offenders - mostly those convicted of nonviolent drug and property crimes -
to cut 50 percent off their sentences through good behavior, up from the
current 33 percent.

California voters passed a law nearly three years ago requiring treatment
instead of prison for nonviolent drug users convicted of possession for the
first or second time. Arizona has a similar law.

"A lot of the states are recognizing there is a wealth of evidence to
suggest that both cost savings and future crime savings can be brought
about from this," said Ryan King, a research associate at The Sentencing
Project, a Washington-based group that studies prison alternatives for
nonviolent, property and low-level drug offenders.

But St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, president-elect of the
National District Attorneys Association, said he and many colleagues are
concerned that budget-cutters could take dangerous risks.

McCulloch said prosecutors are open to treatment as an option for
nonviolent drug offenders, but he adds that such programs work only if
well-funded.

In Missouri, demand for such drug treatment programs is currently greater
than the supply.

Meyer, who is incarcerated for drug possession, manufacture and
distribution convictions, participated in a drug treatment program at the
Ozark Correctional Center as part of a previous sentence.

But he wound up involved with drugs again when released. Now he is
voluntarily taking prison courses on substance abuse and anger management -
with mixed results.

In December, he managed to obtain marijuana behind bars and tested positive
for drugs during a random check. The violation earned him isolation time in
prison.

But during a March interview at the Algoa Correctional Center, Meyer vowed
he was ready to change - this time, for good.

"I know I'm eventually going to be out, and I'm going to have the same
people come around. It's just up to me to leave the drugs and dope alone,"
Meyer said. "Every time I've gotten out, I think I could do just a little
bit (of drugs), but it led me back here."

Algoa superintendent Michael Murphy, whose institution is being converted
from medium to minimum security, describes Meyer as "a typical kind of
person for this institution."

Some inmates have an epiphany in the prison's drug courses; many others do
not, he said.

For Meyer, the Missouri legislation would come too late. He's long past
being a first-time offender. And his convictions for assaulting a law
officer and manufacturing methamphetamine likely would preclude him from
the bill's provisions.

But Meyer said he has a developed a good perspective on the effectiveness
of prison sentences for drug abusers. From his confines at the Algoa
prison, he can look over the Missouri River valley and see a new,
maximum-security prison rising in a field. It's scheduled to completed next
year.

"They opened up all these new prisons, but to me, I don't see them doing
anything to help anyone," Meyer said.

He says he knows, finally, what could help.

"I'd like to get into some more treatment before I get back out," he says.

The sentencing bill is SB5.