Copyright: 2003 South Louisiana Publishing
Contact: clenox@theadvertiser.com
Website: http://www.theadvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1670
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

PAROLE PROGRAM YET TO SEE SAVINGS

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Louisiana has yet to realize even 10 percent of the
savings projected when the state Legislature instituted a parole program
designed to ease the strain on crowded prisons.

Since the program began in late 2001, 16 inmates have been released,
according to a review by The Times-Picayune.

Another two are waiting for release from a local substance-abuse recovery
program. With boot camp and work-release transfers figured in, the program
had granted relief to 36 people by late March.

At $33 a day to house a state inmate, the savings is estimated at about
$200,000 a year, far lower than some lawmakers' predictions of at least $3
million in savings yearly.

The savings also amounts to a tiny percentage of the Department of
Corrections $520 million budget.

"It's more beneficial for the inmates than it is for the state," said
Warden Johnnie Jones, who runs the women's prison in St. Gabriel and serves
on a risk-review panel that decides which inmates should be freed under the
program.

Corrections officials, however, said the number of releases doesn't define
success.

"This was never put into place to open the gates and let them all run out,"
said Trey Boudreaux, undersecretary at the Department of Corrections. "This
is to methodically go through and see who's a risk. We're putting people
before the pardon and parole boards who otherwise wouldn't be there."

In Louisiana, prisoners rarely get a second chance. There's no parole on a
life sentence. A single armed robbery can mean 10 years to 99 years in
prison. A system to release nonviolent felons early was a bit of a reversal
for Louisiana, where the incarceration rate tops the nation: 800 prisoners
per 100,000 residents.

As part of the program, Louisiana set up several risk-review panels. Made
up of corrections officials, judges and psychologists, the panels routinely
review inmates' applications once corrections officials deem them eligible
for review. The Department of Corrections can make the initial decision to
place some inmates in work-release or boot camps instead of sending the
inmate's application to a risk-review panel.

For inmates approved by a risk-review panel, the next stop is the Pardon
Board, and from there on to the governor and the Parole Board.

For inmates who already are eligible for parole, their files are sent off
to the Parole Board after getting a blessing from a risk-review panel.

Rep. Danny Martiny, R-Kenner, said it's far too early to weigh the results
of risk review. Over time, Louisiana could see a significant reduction in
its prison population, he said.

"We're making strides," Martiny said. "In principle, it's a great concept."

Those who predicted risk review wouldn't work, however, say the results
vindicate their view.

The cost-benefit analysis ignored one important component, East Baton Rouge
District Attorney Doug Moreau said.

"There's an economic cost to people who commit crimes being free in
society, rather than the cost" of incarceration, he said. "It costs the guy
whose home gets burglarized.

"I don't think it can work. The whole premise for the law is to try to cut
the DOC budget by releasing prisoners back into society," he said.

Supporters warn against judging the program by numbers only. Inmates can
look to the risk-review process as motivation to better themselves, they say.

"The program is a good program," Jones said. "But I think we must always
keep in mind that protecting the public is obviously the higher priority
than letting people out of prison."