WHAT'S A PRISON PLAN WITHOUT THE MONEY?

RIGHT ON top of another court deadline, the administration of Gov. Don
Siegelman has come up with a sensible plan to relieve clogged county jails
of their state prisoners. Not surprisingly, however, there's not enough
money to pay for it.

Facing a fine of more than $2 million and a contempt-of-court

citation from Montgomery County Circuit Judge William Shashy, the Siegelman
administration wisely dropped the idea of housing prisoners in tents and or
an old National Guard arsenal in favor of building a new prison, adding
more prison beds elsewhere and expanding programs to keep offenders out of
state prisons.

The plan presented to Judge Shashy on Thursday -- the deadline -- calls for
a new 400-man prison and the addition of 200 beds for prisoners who need
mental-health care. Additional road camps would be created for prisoners to
work on road projects such as highway cleanups.

Equally important is a planned expansion of community and drug treatment
programs as alternatives to prison. Nonviolent offenders in these programs
would work rather than simply costing the state money by sitting in a
prison or county jail cell.

With some 1,350 state inmates currently housed in overcrowded county jails,
the plan begins to address the long-term problem, which would not have been
solved by taking inmates out of county jails and putting them in tents.

But there is only partial funding for the plan: The state is selling land
owned by the prison system to the city of Atmore for $2.4 million (the city
is planning an industrial park on the site). The other source is $4 million
from the prison system's operating budget for fiscal year 2003.

Problem is, the components of the plan weren't in the prisons' operating
budget. That means the operating budget will be $4 million short, and the
Legislature, according to the Siegelman administration, will have to find
the money to make up the difference.

That's how Alabama state government and the Legislature always do business:
Borrow or simply take the money from somewhere to handle the latest crisis,
and figure out later how to plug the newly opened hole, when there's
another crisis or a court deadline looming.

House Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andulusia, ought to be commended for
introducing the T word into the discussion. At a meeting on the jail
overcrowding crisis, Rep. Hammett spoke the plain truth: New taxes will be
required to solve the crisis (not to mention assorted other crises facing
the state).

Rep. Hammett did not go so far as to propose something specific, saying he
awaits proposals from Gov. Siegelman. State Corrections Commissioner Mike
Haley, meanwhile, told Judge Shashy last week that the governor is
committed to working with the Legislature on unspecified revenue-generating
measures.

If anyone admits to having a realistic proposition in mind before the
November election, we'll be surprised.