INMATE HIKE LEADS NATION

Miss. No. 1 In Rate Of Increase For Six-Month Period

WASHINGTON - The federal prison system reported its largest ever six-month
increase, and a decline in state prison inmates has ended, according to a
study out Wednesday.

In fact, Mississippi is not only one of the states noting an increase, it
also leads the nation in the percentage jump in state inmate population.

In Mississippi, the inmate population rose 12.5 percent, followed by West
Virginia, 8.7 percent, and Vermont, 7.7 percent.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics' latest count of the nation's prison
population, which tracked the number of people admitted and released from
prisons and jails from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2001, said federal prisons added
7,372 inmates. At the same time, the number of state prison inmates rose by
7,048 people. The report said 472 people are in prison or jail per 100,000
population.

The previous six months, the Justice Department reported states' prison
populations dipped for the first time in 28 years.

Deputy Commissioner Christopher Epps of the Mississippi Department of
Corrections said the increase in Mississippi prisoners began in earnest in
1995 with the implementation of a truth-in-sentencing law. It requires
inmates to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence with time off for
good behavior or completion of a work or education program. "Obviously,
when that law was put into effect, inmates stayed in prison longer," Epps said.

But things changed recently that will reflect a slowdown, Epps said. A law
the Legislature approved last year is allowing certain first-time offenders
to apply for parole and serve as little as a quarter of their sentence.
Another new law allows prisoners to receive more time off for meritorious
behavior.

Epps said Mississippi's prison population has grown by only nine inmates
this year, a reflection of the policy changes.

"We haven't gotten to the point where we're closing any prisons, but the
rate of growth is slowing," he said.

Allen Beck, one of the report's authors, sees the same thing occurring
nationwide.

The 1.1 percent rise in state and federal prisoners for the one-year period
ending June 30, 2001, noted in the report, was the lowest in at least a decade.

The growth in state prisoners is flattening, Beck said. Preliminary
information on those imprisoned in the last half of 2001 show the number of
state prisoners did not increase or decrease dramatically.

The number of people in state prisons has increased 75 percent in a little
more than a decade, rising from 684,544 at the end of 1990 to nearly 1.2
million on June 30, 2001. But Beck said growth is slowing because many
states have eliminated mandatory minimum sentences and have more widespread
use of treatment programs instead of incarceration for drug offenders.

"Any decline is more about changes in sentencing policy and less about
crime rates," Beck said.

For the year ending June 30, 2001, 12 states experienced a decline in their
prison population. New Jersey had the largest percentage decrease, 9.6
percent, followed by Massachusetts, 3.7 percent, and New York, 3.5 percent.

The increase in federal prisoners was even more dramatic. In the 12 months
ending June 30, 2001, the number of federal prisoners grew by 7.2 percent.

Beck said the rapid growth could be attributed to increased federal
prosecution of weapons, immigration and drug offenses.

Some criticized the federal policy. "The federal government is out of step
with states that are finding more economical and humane ways to hold
nonviolent offenders accountable for their actions as well as rehabilitate
them," said Vincent Schiraldi, president of the nonprofit Justice Policy
Institute.

The Justice Department also said 12 percent of black men in their 20s and
early 30s were in prison or jail in 2001 and suffered from the highest
incarceration rates.

With nearly 2 million people behind bars in prisons and jails, the United
States has a greater percentage of its population imprisoned than any other
nation.