$18 MILLION PRISON SAVINGS PROJECTED

With Inmate Growth Slowing, Lawmaker Hopes To Tap Funds

Madison - After years of record growth, Wisconsin's prison population is now
increasing at such a slow rate that the state could save $18 million that
had been set aside to rent cells, mainly in private prisons out of state,
according to a report released Monday.

If the trend continues, Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) said the
anticipated savings in the Department of Corrections budget would help
address a projected funding gap of $475 million in state government overall
during the current fiscal year.

State Budget Director Richard Chandler warned lawmakers recently that
spending would exceed tax collections by $475 million by June 30, 2001, the
"structural deficit" that has worried Cowles and some of his colleagues in
the Legislature.

"With the structural deficit looming over us when we begin to balance the
2001-'03 budget next year, preliminary news of a significant chunk of funds
lapsing from the Department of Corrections into the general fund is very
positive news," Cowles said.

Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher was unavailable for comment, but his
spokesman, Bill Clausius, said it was too soon to count on any savings in
the corrections budget.

"It's difficult to say whether there's going to be any savings. We still
have an increasing prison population, albeit not at the same rate," Clausius
said.

While the male inmate population may be growing at a slower rate, Clausius
said the female inmate population continues to grow at a faster rate.

He cited other needs, including opening new prisons in Redgranite and New
Lisbon.

"We have plans for that money," Clausius said. "We acknowledge that there's
lower net growth. But it's still growth."

Cowles released a memo from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau that estimates the
inmate population by June 30, 2001, the end of the current budget period,
would be about 10% less than the 23,937 that was projected when the
1999-2001 budget was enacted.

As of Friday, the inmate population was 20,608.

That compares with 20,055 on June 30 and 20,177 on Jan. 7.

The growth so far this year is slower than in 1998, when the inmate
population increased by more than 3,100, and in 1999, when it increased by
more than 2,200.

The Corrections Department has authority to contract for 5,514 out-of-state
beds but has not used all of the funding set aside for contract beds.

As of Friday, the state had 4,365 male inmates in private prisons the
Corrections Corporation of American runs in Appleton, Minn.; North Fork,
Okla.; Tallahatchee, Miss.; and Mason and Whiteville, Tenn.

The state has an additional 326 male inmates at a federal prison in Duluth,
and one inmate in a Texas county jail.

The state also has 349 female inmates out of state: 194 in a federal prison
in Alderson, W.Va., and 155 in a private prison in McLoud, Okla.

When it passed the budget, the Legislature allocated money for the contract
beds but held it in reserve, subject to release by the Joint Finance
Committee, the Legislature's budget committee.

According to the fiscal bureau memo, the $18 million is in addition to $8.3
million that the Finance Committee recently voted to release to the
Corrections Department.

Cowles, a member of the committee, said the $8.3 million would be available
to cover any increased cost because of any new surge in the population.

However, Clausius said the department had several funding requests pending
before the committee to use the $18 million for other purposes, such as
additional positions at the Redgranite prison, a literacy program at the Fox
Lake prison and a computer program to provide probation and parole agents
better access to files.

"There's the potential for some costs in lieu of out-of-state placement,"
Clausius said.

"You bring people back, and there's going to be some costs."

Gov. Tommy G. Thompson has said he wants all female inmates returned to the
state by the end of the year.

"We understand that it appears that our net growth is lower, but there is
still a rate of increase," Clausius said.

"The rate of increase of male inmates may not be as great, but we still have
increases in population, and there's still going to be a need for
out-of-state placements."

Clausius also said that negotiating a new contract with CCA in December
could result in a higher rate than the $42 per day per inmate that CCA now
charges the state.