PACKING THE PRISONERS IN

Area Struggling With An Unwanted Population Explosion.

Fueled by increased arrests on drug and alcohol charges and stiffer
sentences for those crimes, Missouri's inmate population has boomed
in the past decade.

According to new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of
inmates in the state shot up 76 percent between 1990 and 2000. Nearly
all southwest Missouri counties experienced an increase, with Stone
and Howell counties experiencing the biggest jumps.

"It's essentially people being prosecuted and being sent to prison
more," said Tim Kniest, spokesman for the state Department of
Corrections. "... People are not getting out as quickly as they once
did."

The explosion is expected to continue, and despite millions of tax
dollars being spent for larger lockups, officials believe there won't
be enough space to house the state's inmates within the next five
years. No one is sure what the solution to the growing population is,
but some believe alternative sentencing could help contain the rising
numbers.

Sentences other than prison time are decisions driven by the nature
of the offense, Greene County Circuit Court Judge J. Miles Sweeney
said. But the side benefit of those sentences has been to limit the
prison population.

"I can't think of any situation where a judge says, 'I can't send
this guy to prison because it's too full,' but what has happened is
that alternative sentences have a beneficial side effect of reducing
our prison population," Sweeney said.

The prison population across the nation, however, continues to rise.

The U.S. Census says the number of prisoners housed throughout
Missouri jumped from 19,975 in 1990 to 35,206 last year. There was a
400 percent increase in both Stone and Howell counties - the largest
rises in southwest Missouri.

The census shows only a snapshot of what the prison population looked
like on April 1, 2000. Still, those figures provide guidance for
officials as they plan for future influxes and new buildings.

Long-term prisoners are counted for the population in the city where
they are incarcerated, said Ryan Burson, state demographer.
Short-term prisoners are counted for the cities they live in.

"The correctional populations are included in the official
populations for cities and towns," Burson said. "They are used for
purposes of apportionment and redistricting."

In Greene County - home to the new Justice Center and Medical Center
for Federal Prisoners - the number of inmates grew 33 percent over
the past 10 years, from 1,164 in 1990 to 1,549 last year.

Kenneth Clayton, director of the Greene County Jail, said the average
stay for a prisoner in 1997 was 10 days. Now, it's 18.9. "When it
goes high and stays that way for a while, it's due to the percentage
of high-rate crime," Clayton said. "Somebody that has been arrested
for serious crimes can't post bond."

Additional arrests contributed to some substantial increases in
southwest Missouri counties.

Howell County's jail commander attributes most of his county's
fourfold increase in inmates to one cause.

"We have a dramatic increase in the use of drugs - methamphetamine in
particular," said Howell County Jail Commander Doug Fountaine. "About
90 percent of our problems deal directly with drug and alcohol abuse."

Because of the increase in the number of drug offenders in jail, drug
courts have started around the country to provide an alternative for
people who need help overcoming addiction, said Greene County Judge
Calvin Holden, who presides over Greene County's drug court.

"Prisons don't address drug addiction, or not well. And even if they
do, the person will get out eventually, and have the same problem
again," Holden said.

Drug court focuses on behavior modification, counseling people
addicted to drugs over a minimum of 18 months, Holden said.

"Jails are often warehousing the problem," Holden said. Drug court
seeks to eradicate it, so that the courts are not seeing "the same
people over and over again," he said.

Christian County Sheriff Joey Matlock disagrees with the census
figures for his jail, which show that the population went down from
10 to 9.

The current Christian County Jail holds 14. But the census doesn't
reflect the 20 or more prisoners who have to be transported to
facilities in Stone, Miller, Ozark and Douglas counties.

For the past two weeks, jailers have been on the road transporting
prisoners. It's costing the county about $638 a day to house the
prisoners elsewhere.

The new jail, which will house 96 to 120 prisoners, should be
complete in August. But Matlock anticipates that it will be full well
before the next census.

The price of incarceration has to be considered, Kniest said, with an
emphasis on using prison space, the most expensive resource of the
corrections department, in the most efficient way.

It costs $34.61 per day, on average, to keep a person in prison,
compared with $12 or $13 if that person is monitored electronically
in a home, or $5-$7 if he or she is on probation, Kniest said.

"The first question must always be, 'What kind of offenders are
these?'" Kniest said. If the offender is a nonviolent one, then
electronic monitoring or probation may be the best option, he added.

Other alternatives to prison time are also explored if the person has
"certain things to be treated or to overcome," such as drug addiction
or mental illness, Kniest said.

"If we can offer something, such as a drug treatment facility, that
will help that person not offend again, then that should be the best
option," Kniest said.

Matlock agrees that first-time offenders would benefit from
alternative sentencing, but said it's better to imprison repeat
offenders who haven't benefited from alternative sentencing.

"It could help - especially for first-time offenders," Matlock said.
"... Some are salvageable. Some have been doing it for eight years
and they just got caught for the first time. I'm not sure they are
salvageable. I'm not sure you can change their attitude."

Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore agrees the system has taken
what was a good idea - alternative sentencing - and made it
ineffective.

"When it's being used for second, third and fourth time offenders,
and also for people with felony convictions, then it's not effective.
... If people get an alternative three or four times, then the remedy
becomes a joke and there's no sanction for the crime," Moore said.

Moore said that used improperly, alternative sentencing could
increase the prison population over the long term.

"Where we will get the best results is by spending as much of our
precious tax dollars as we can on prevention and, specifically, on
programs for children to keep them from becoming criminals," Moore
said.

But used properly, agrees defense attorney Shawn Askinosie, the
alternative sentences can be a better deterrent.

"It's often better for the offender and the community. Usually the
alternative will have some program component aimed at preventing
repeat offenses, while jail time does not necessarily," Askinosie
said.

Jailers across the state expect numbers to continue upward, which
leaves them with the challenge of finding enough beds and activities
for prisoners.

The Department of Corrections spent about $484 million in the 1990s
to add 14,000 beds to state prisons.

The new $22 million Greene County Justice Center makes it easier to
provide incentives - exercise, basketball competitions, cards - for
prisoners with good behavior.

"The busier we keep the inmates, the easier it makes our job here,"
Clayton said.

In Howell County last year, residents approved a sales tax to hire
more jailers and put more deputies on the road - a necessity with the
county's booming population, Fountaine said.

"In 10 years, we'll definitely have to have a bigger facility if it
continues to grow the way it's growing now," Fountaine said.