NO PRISON PLAN

Riley Needs More Time To Perform Magical Feat

If Bob Riley is to perform magic with prisons, he deserves a little more
time. The new governor is asking for an additional two weeks before
submitting a plan to resolve overcrowded and dangerous conditions at
Tutwiler, the state's prison for women.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson rejected a plan offered by
the outgoing Siegelman administration and told the new Riley administration
to present its plan by this Friday.

Thompson said the Siegelman plan depended on stopping counties from sending
convicted inmates to the prison, which he didn't have the authority to
order, and was based on the assumption that the state didn't have the money
to hire guards and make other needed improvements. The judge has made clear
he won't allow the state to make the lack of money an accuse for not fixing
the prison.

Still, Thompson should grant the new governor more time. A two-week delay
is not unreasonable considering that Riley has been in office only a couple
of weeks.

But the judge must continue to pressure the state. Prisons are in crisis,
due in no small part to the state's inaction.

Tutwiler is a prime example of the state's failure to head off a
potentially calamitous situation. The state's only prison for women was
built 60 years ago to hold 365 inmates. Today, however, more than 1,000
inmates are packed into Tutwiler.

Thompson ruled the conditions unconstitutional and described the prison as
"a ticking time bomb." He had ordered the Siegelman administration to come
up with a plan by the end of December to fix the problems.

That plan included a freeze on new inmates coming into the prison, hiring
more corrections officers, implementing changes to improve safety and
building a new $60 million prison for women. The most significant of those
changes, however, depended on a large increase in funding from the state.

With budget shortfalls next year expected to top a half billion dollars,
finding even $60 million for a new prison is unlikely. Plus, the $60
million is only part of the nearly $150 million in additional money that
the former prison commissioner said is needed to fix problems systemwide.
Men's prisons also are dangerously overcrowded.

Riley and his new prison commissioner, Donal Campbell, have their work cut
out. Even if they're given more time, finding a way out of the prison
morass will require the skills of a magician.