PROGRAMS, NOT MORE PRISONS

There's something wrong when other states are reducing prison populations
to save money while financially struggling Tennessee is building prisons it
can't afford to house more prisoners.

Incarceration of every offender is the problem, as outlined in two major
reports on states that have turned alternative sentencing and other
correction reforms to their advantage without sacrificing public safety.

The Sentencing Project and the Justice Policy Institute, both advocacy
groups for prison alternatives, released reports last week showing that
states are turning to more rehabilitation and drug treatment efforts to
save cell space. The get-tough era of the 1990s appears to be in reverse.

States like Mississippi, for example, allow inmates to earn time for early
release. Montana now diverts those with four or more drunken-driving
offenses to residential treatment. California has the best known efforts to
divert drug offenders to treatment programs, but that state has been joined
by Arizona and at least three others states - Florida, Ohio and Michigan -
which will vote on the issue later this year.

Rehabilitation efforts aren't the only approach. The throw-away-the-keys
sentencing of the '90s has been replaced with relaxation of mandatory
minimum sentences for non-violent crimes. Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and
Florida are among the states that have closed prisons while other states
are thinning out prison populations with alternative programs.

And has it hurt public safety? Not according to the reports; the changes
affect non-violent prisoners, including many on drugs. But most
surprisingly in the reports, the public doesn't mind the shift in emphasis
to rehabilitation and reduced sentencing as evidenced by growing support
for correction changes.

Tennessee is about to launch a new round of prison building, but
Tennessee's governor and legislature should promise an investment in true
correction. At a cost of $21,000 a bed per year, this state has better
things to do with its money than recycle prisoners in and out of prison.