'LOCK 'EM UP' ALTERNATIVES GAINING GROUND

Frank Lambert would have been headed for a year in prison after being
convicted of felony DUI in 1999.

Instead, he was accepted into Circuit Judge Keith Starrett's Pike County
drug court and served a year of house arrest.

"I have been sober for 35 months," said Lambert, 53, a retired barge
operator from McComb. "The authority of the judge was my motivation, then
it turned to God, a higher power. I have a place to live, a new truck I can
drive and volunteer work I can do I would not have had in prison."

Nationwide, such alternative programs to reduce growing prison populations,
rehabilitate offenders and save money, are gaining acceptance.

Jason Ziedenberg, associate director of the Justice Policy Institute in
Washington, said after 30 years of steady prison growth, 13 states are
reporting a decrease in prison population.

Programs such as drug courts and restitution as well as sentencing reforms
in states like California, Texas and Ohio are reducing prison numbers.

"The state of Texas has reduced its population by 7,000," Ziedenberg said
of the Lone Star state, which has the nation's highest per capita rate of
incarceration.

Drug courts are just one alternative that could put Mississippi on the same
track of reducing its state inmate population. Mississippi has three other
drug courts, in addition to the one in Pike County: Hinds and
Washington/Sunflower/Leflore counties and a misdemeanor drug court in
Ridgeland. But officials would like to see more.

"Let's get smart on crime rather than tough on crime," said Attorney
General Mike Moore, who backs statewide replication of the drug courts
because drugs and alcohol are involved in more than 70 percent of crimes.
"We need programs on the front end for these nonviolent offenders."

Mississippi lawmakers have learned the growth of the prison population
since the 1994 passage of a truth-in-sentencing law is too expensive. The
law, which took effect in 1995, required all felony offenders to serve 85
percent of their sentence.

The prison population consequently grew - from 12,474 in 1995 to 19,186 as
of Tuesday - and the corrections budget followed suit, soaring from $119
million in 1995 to $254.2 million for the fiscal year that began July 1.

Lawmakers responded last year by passing bills to have certain nonviolent,
first offenders serve a quarter of their sentences and to allow some
inmates to earn 10 days off their sentences for each 30 days of good time
served.

State parole board officials said 800 to 1,000 inmates immediately became
eligible for parole in July 1, 2001, under the easing of the 85 percent
rule. The board did not have numbers on those paroled.

Most of the offenders behind bars are nonviolent. In 1995, the ratio of
nonviolent to violent inmates was fairly even - 6,424 nonviolent inmates to
6,050 violent inmates. In 2001, the numbers were very different - 11,372
nonviolent inmates to 7,424 violent inmates.

The state is also turning to another innovative approach to slow the inmate
growth. The Bolivar County Regional Facility will be used as a drug and
alcohol treatment facility for 200 inmates when repairs from a tornado are
complete this month.

Senate Corrections Committee Chairman Rob Smith, D-Richland, who authored
the bill regarding Bolivar County, believes he scored a major victory for
the state.

"We have the opportunity to conduct a long-term drug and alcohol program
and to get measurable results on recidivism," Smith said. "If we are
successful, we will save taxpayers' money and change lives where a family
will have a father or mother figure they can live with.

"If we are not, then we will back off and let the Department of Mental
Health or someone else do it."

House Penitentiary Chairman Bennett Malone, D-Carthage, said he favors
restitution where inmates work outside confinement during the day and repay
victims and the state for their living expenses.

"We are going to meet this summer before the session," Malone said. "I
believe you will see more restitution come out of the next session.

"We could help repay the victims and cut state costs."

Corrections Commissioner Robert Johnson agrees it is time for more
alternatives.

"You can't just lock them up and throw away the key," Johnson said. "What
you will have when they are released is a tougher criminal. If we could
lower the recidivism 10 percent, we would save a lot of money."

Johnson favors drug courts, house arrest, restitution and work programs for
eligible inmates.

"We can supervise nonviolent offenders in house arrest as effectively as if
they were behind bars," said Johnson, who said MDOC needs to beef up its
field supervisory staff to add to the number of offenders (1,300) under
house arrest who paid $800,000 in fees to MDOC in 2002.

Johnson wants more eligible inmates to work and make restitution to victims
and pay the state for their room and board. Currently, MDOC generates $16
million of its budget.

Mississippi has 252 inmates in four restitution centers in Hinds, Jackson,
Leflore and Rankin counties.

Those eligible for restitution are first-time, nonviolent offenders who
commit a felony, are free of drugs, alcohol or emotional problems, have
good mental and physical health, are employable and have a desire to
participate.

"We need to punish the inmates and restore the victims, not have them
behind bars and not restoring the victims," Johnson said. "We are not doing
a very good job of that."

The reason, he said, is the existence of "that old lock-them-up attitude."

Sen. Bunky Huggins, R-Greenwood, said telephone calls he gets indicate
citizens want the state to continue to incarcerate offenders.

Yolanda Dickey of Clinton is one of them. She would like to see Andrea
Smith of Brandon serve time in jail.

Her husband, Thomas Dickey, lost his eyesight after Smith's car slammed
head on into his vehicle as he was returning from his job at Packard
Electric just after 1 a.m. Feb. 1, 2000.

"(Smith) got six months' house arrest," said Yolanda Dickey of the
punishment imposed May 17. "I believe she should have had to spend some
time in jail because of the damage she did."

But Dickey agrees the state should also rehabilitate offenders. "They need
to get them some help so they won't be out there injuring and killing
others," Dickey said.

Johnson said the state needs more circuit judges willing to sentence
inmates to restitution, more businesses willing to provide jobs and more
budget money or donations of facilities for restitution centers.

Circuit Judge George Ready in DeSoto County is working with MDOC to
establish a restitution center. "Now if I sentence someone to restitution
they have to stay in the county jail waiting for a spot, which is costly."

Ready believes DeSoto County makes for a good location because business
growth would ensure jobs for those in restitution. "Having restitution
close to where inmates live would increase the restitutioners' chance for
success."

Offenders he sentences now travel to Leflore County, he said.

Smith says the state could also make better use of 18 community work
centers where more than 1,200 eligible inmates work for counties and
government entities for $20 a day from the state.

"We could have those who qualify in community work centers do restitution,"
Smith said. "Obviously, it would be in growth areas where there are jobs
and not where they would be competing with locals for jobs."

Smith said if inmates are rehabilitated through a drug/alcohol program or
restitution, the results would be far-reaching, from restored families to
the state economy.

Starrett, who expanded his program April 1 by offering a drug called Revia
to cut felony DUI offenders' alcohol cravings, has seen rehabilitation happen.

"With house arrest alone, they tend to drink again," Starrett said. "We
work with the offender rather than against them. Just three of 44 have
failed in our program."

Lambert hopes MDOC and legislators extend the drug court program into other
venues.

"I would like to see (MDOC) include the same drug court program for those
they put on house arrest," Lambert said. "I know it works.

"I also know what it means in your life to be sober."