INMATES SENT OUT OF STATE TO TRIPLE

Wisconsin Officials To Check Private Prisons; January Start Seen

By Richard P. Jones of the Journal Sentinel

Madison In a major expansion of the state's plan to ease prison crowding
by shipping inmates to other states, officials announced Wednesday that up
to 1,500 inmates could be sent to private prisons in Ohio, Tennessee, Texas
and New Mexico, beginning by late January.

The move ultimately would more than triple the number of Wisconsin inmates
being held in jails and prisons out of state, and would be the first time
that inmates are sent to an outofstate prison not in Texas.

Corrections Secretary Michael Sullivan said he tentatively has accepted
proposals from two companies that operate private prisons nationwide to
take Wisconsin prisoners.

However, before making a final decision, Sullivan's staff will visit
prisons in five states operated by the two companies, the Corrections
Corporation of America, based in Nashville, Tenn., and the Bobby Ross Group
Inc., of Austin, Texas.

If the prisons pass inspection, contract talks will begin. If deals can be
struck by midJanuary, Sullivan said, inmates transfers could begin by the
end of that month.

He said the cost could range from $44 to $49 per day per prisoner.

Sullivan said his staff will visit CCA prisons in Youngstown, Ohio,
Memphis, Tenn., and Albuquerque, N.M., and Ross prisons near Austin and San
Antonio.

Wisconsin last year started keeping minimumsecurity prisoners in Texas
county jails at $40 per inmate per day. The state now has 630 prisoners in
Texas and has the authority to send another 70.

To provide more relief for prison overpopulation, the 1997'99 state budget
gives the department the authority to put 1,500 more inmates in either
public or private cells out of state.

Sullivan said six firms submitted proposals, and his agency chose CCA and
Ross. Unlike the Texas jails, these prisons would accept more serious
offenders, including murderers, Sullivan said.

Sending Wisconsin inmates to outofstate prisons is necessary because
state prisons are more than 50% over capacity. As of Friday, the state had
14,727 inmates. Wisconsin's prison system has a capacity of 9,538.

In the last two years, the state's prison population has grown by more than
30%.

So far, Wisconsin has sent only male inmates out of state, but Sullivan
raised the possibility of doing the same with female prisoners.

Appearing before a state Assembly committee Wednesday, Sullivan gave the
department's latest projections on the inmate population through June 2001.

By 2001, the male inmate population is expected to be 20,582, while the
system's capacity for male prisoners will increase to 15,320 as new prisons
are built and more cells are rented at other public or private institutions.

However, Sullivan foresees no increase in prison capacity for women, even
though the female inmate population in Wisconsin has grown at a faster rate
than the male population.

Wisconsin now has 762 female prisoners, or 126 over capacity. By June 2001,
the female inmate population will be 1,076 while capacity will remain at
636, according to Sullivan's projections.

"I'm certain in the next budget request you will see something from the
governor to address this gap in capacity," Sullivan told the committee.

Gov. Tommy Thompson is expected to introduce a budget adjustment bill early
next year, but Sullivan declined to say whether Thompson would propose
building a new prison for women. Sullivan said an alternative might be
transfers to other institutions.

For now, Sullivan said, the Corrections Department's main focus is
negotiating contracts with CCA and the Ross Group for men.

Sullivan told the Assembly's Corrections Facilities Committee that prison
population projections do not take into account two factors that could
exacerbate the problem.

One factor is a recent Supreme Court ruling on inmates held in the
Milwaukee County Jail. The court ruled that the state must remove probation
and parole violators and other prisoners if the sheriff finds his jail
crowded and dangerous.

Although the court stayed the effect of its ruling until June, Sullivan
said the department has removed 225 inmates from the jail. He said the
ruling applied to other counties as well, although sheriffs elsewhere
expressed interest in expanding their jails if the state would rent cells
at the right price.

The other factor that could affect the prison population is the "truth in
sentencing" proposal before the Legislature that would end parole and
require inmates to serve their entire sentences.

Sullivan has maintained there is no way to predict how such a law might
affect the prison population because it's impossible to predict how judges
will react in sentencing offenders.

In another development Wednesday, Sullivan supported legislation to let his
agency contract with a private prison that an Oklahoma firm, Dominion
Management Services, wants to build in Stanley.

Wisconsin has no major private prison, and the Corrections Department is
barred from using one, should it be built.

Sullivan urged the bill's author, committee chairman Rep. Scott Walker
(RWauwatosa), to amend the bill to let the department regulate the
construction and operation of private prisons in Wisconsin, whether or not
it rents their cells.

Sullivan acknowledged his support of the bill would be unpopular with the
state prison guards' union, but he said the department should have the
option of using instate private prisons and should see that they are built
and managed appropriately, regardless of what states they serve.

"My position all along has been that I believe in competition. It's
healthy, it's good," Sullivan said.