CORRECTIONS OFFICIALS LOOK TO SHIFT INMATES TO COUNTY JAILS

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina prison officials asked state legislators last
week to force counties to absorb more state prisoners into the county jails
- -- a move that local jailers say would burden their already overcrowded
facilities. In a cost-cutting measure during a tight state budget year, the
S.C. Department of Corrections has asked that the current law be changed so
the state prison system would be required to house only those inmates
serving sentences of a year or more, said Cheryl Bates-Lee, a spokeswoman
for the department.

Non-violent inmates sentenced to 90 days or less already are fanned out to
county jails.

But South Carolina is the only state in the nation that expects its state
prison system to house offenders sentenced to relatively brief terms of
between 90 days and a year, Bates-Lee said.

Changing that requirement would reduce the state prison population by 900
to 1,000 inmates, she said.

"If the proposal is accepted, it will save us a couple of million a year,"
Bates-Lee said.

Rep. Chip Limehouse, R-Charle-ston, said he might introduce the measure on
the House floor during debate on the budget.

"The state has to take violent offenders off the street, and, in my view,
counties should handle the short-termers," Limehouse said.

But opponents of the change say the county jails in the state already are
overcrowded.

"We have built jails out the wazoo over the last 10 years," said Robert
Croom, a lobbyist for the S.C. Association of Counties, which opposes
changing the law. "We added 2,376 spaces. At the same time, our jail
population has grown by 2,709."

Croom notes that the detention center in Charleston County -- Limehouse's
district -- now houses about 1,250 prisoners, almost twice the recommended
capacity of 661 for the jail.

Opponents also point out that longer term inmates require more services,
often unavailable in county jails.

"Persons sentenced to a year or less need more than people who are detained
awaiting trial," said Kathy Williams, assistant director of S.C.
Association of Counties. "They need job training, in some cases drug
treatment and GED classes. Plus, you have to provide medical care." The
cost of those additional services would fall on the counties.

South Carolina and Alabama are the only two states where county jails
receive no per diem reimbursement from the state to house inmates sentenced
by the courts to prison, Williams said. Local property tax revenues are
used to cover the cost of housing inmates in housing facilities.

But unlike South Carolina, the federal government does pay a per diem to
county jail to house federal prisoners.

That fact has not gone unnoticed by Limehouse, who said he suspects
counties opt for filling empty beds with federal prisoners rather than
state inmates.

"Counties in turn will bump their 90-day-and-over prisoners up to the
state," Limehouse said. "I suspect they are making money or they wouldn't
be taking in the federal prisoners."

But Mark Fitzgibbons, director of the Beaufort County Detention Center,
said the per diem paid by federal law enforcement divisions to house
prisoners doesn't cover true costs.

His jail currently houses 10 federal inmates out of a total jail population
of about 190.

"It costs about $65 a day to keep an inmate here," Fitzgibbons said. "I can
assure you I'm not getting that from the federal government."

Fitzgibbons said that even if the state were to pay a per diem, there are
additional costs to consider, costs associated with expanding or building
new facilities to accommodate increased inmate populations.

By law, detention facilities must segregate sentenced inmates from the
pretrial detainees, who comprise about 80 percent of county jail populations.

Consequently, limited space can't always be utilized in the most efficient
manner to accommodate overcrowding.

"The average cost per bed to construct a jail is $50,000 to $75,000,
depending on the level of security," Fitzgibbons said. "This is not an Andy
of Mayberry thing."