PRISON GROWTH MAY DEPLETE SURPLUS

If projections that the state's prison population will jump nearly 50% in
three years prove true, it could deplete much of the state's expected
budget surplus, a legislator said Sunday.

The Department of Corrections last week proposed a two-year budget that
seeks an increase of $280.7 million.

More money is needed because the number of adult inmates is expected to
leap by 8,000 to more than 25,000, according to estimates by corrections
officials.

Building and staffing new prisons to house the ever-growing criminal
population as well as sending prisoners to other states will mean a large
increase in the corrections budget.

State Sen. Brian Burke (D-Milwaukee) said that will siphon off money from
the the projected state surplus.

"One thing it does, it eliminates the talk of what to do with the surplus,"
Burke said Sunday night.

"We have to pay our bills first, make the payments (for public schools
funding) that should have been made in the last biennium and then we have
to set aside the money to meet the need in the rising corrections costs,"
said Burke, the ranking Democrat on the Joint Finance Committee.

Revenue estimates released this month projected the state budget surplus at
$193 million this fiscal year. That is in addition to $352.2 million in
projected surplus funds already spent on a variety of state programs and
tax cuts in the last budget. Together with the surplus amount already
included in the budget bill, the total projected surplus for this fiscal
year is about $550 million. State Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen said that a
hefty increase in corrections spending would still leave room for tax cuts.

"As long as we're cutting taxes and increasing public safety through
additional prison space I think we'll get public support (for the
additional corrections spending)," said Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield). "It
does mean the next state budget will have room for tax cuts, increased
school aids and prison beds and little else."

The proposed two-year corrections budget of $1.52 billion includes money
for staffing three new prisons that were already approved as well as a
300-bed prison for elderly inmates and shipping an additional 4,500 inmates
out of state. Wisconsin already houses nearly 3,000 inmates in Minnesota,
Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

"It is a large increase, no question about it. It may not be the final
budget but that's what they're starting with," said Robert Goetsch,
chairman of the Assembly Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee.

Goetsch (R-Juneau) pointed out that while the Legislature already approved
construction of several prisons, funding for guards and other employees is
now coming due. Of the additional funding sought, $70 million is needed to
pay for staffing at new prisons or additions at existing penitentiaries.

"We authorize the building of the prisons a few years before we have to
staff them. Then people forget that we have to staff them," said Goetsch.

The prison bulge is due to several factors. Judges are sentencing criminals
to longer terms, fewer inmates are being released early for electronic
monitoring and prisoners are serving more years before being paroled,
Goetsch said.

The state inmate population has nearly tripled in the last decade, to more
than 17,000. It is expected to swell past 25,000 by 2001. However,
projections don't take into consideration the new "truth-in-sentencing"
law, scheduled to take effect on Dec. 31, 1999.

That worries Burke.

"It was widely assumed that once we passed truth-in-sentencing that we
would have a marked increase in the prison population. But what's
disturbing is this study does not take into account truth-in-sentencing,'"
said Burke.

By the end of 1999, anyone convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison
will be required to serve the entire sentence, with no chance for early
release.

Jensen said it was no surprise that corrections officials are asking for a
22.5% increase in their budget.

"Part of this is the price of truth-in-sentencing and longer sentences, but
it's a price I'm willing to pay for the public's safety," said Jensen.

"I've never had anyone complain that we spend too little money in locking
up prisoners," Jensen said. "I do think people think we pay too much for
each individual prisoner and that's something we're working on."

Goetsch said he expects "close scrutiny" of the budget request.

"It's not more than what we spend on education; nobody should be saying
that. But it is still getting up there in terms of the total budget. I
don't like to see that. I guess we pay for them if we want safe streets,"
said Goetsch.

"It's not going to be an easy thing but we do have the need to protect our
citizens. And . . . if we have too much overcrowding it's dangerous to the
guards."

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski