SC PRISON DEPARTMENT EXPECTS $29 MILLION BUDGET DEFICIT

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford
balked Tuesday at ordering the early release of
nonviolent inmates to ease a $29 million deficit
at the Department of Corrections. Instead, he
said there needed to be consensus among all three
branches of state government before any prisoners are set free early.

The governor's comments came during the state
Budget and Control Board meeting. The panel
cleared the way for the prisons agency to spend
more money than it has. It's the third time in
three years the prisons agency has run short of
cash as budget cuts have taken a toll on its operations.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh
Leatherman, a budget board member, told prisons
director Jon Ozmint that state law already allows him to release inmates
early.

I tell you, at some point in time, we've got to
come to grips with this,=94 said Leatherman,
R-Florence. He pointed out that the prisons
deficit is being made up by other agencies that have also had to cut
spending.

Ozmint said he didn't have the power to release inmates early.

If there are nonviolent inmates that we could
release, I think we would be willing to release
them if we had the statutory authority to do that,=94 Ozmint said.

Ozmint reports to Sanford, the financial
oversight board's chairman. Sanford said
legislators need to sign on to any early release
plan. What we would look for is clear indication
from the legislative body=94 about handling violent
and nonviolent offenders, Sanford said.

And even if state law allows early releases,
=93that wouldn't be the only driver for us,=94
Sanford said. Victims rights need to be taken
into account as well the punitive nature of prison sentences, he noted.

If early releases happen, Sanford said that would
only be while holding hands=94 with the Senate and
House and should be a part of a review of
sentencing and alternatives to prison.

I don't think any one branch wants to take a
unilateral step,=94 Sanford said afterward. =93I
think there needs to be consensus among the
judicial branch, executive branch and legislative branch.=94

Releasing inmates early wouldn't be politically
popular and legislators may be leery of that with
every House member up for election this year.
Sanford, who is limited to two terms, leaves
office after his second in January 2011. =93I'm not
worried about the political heat one way or another,=94 he said.

The $29 million prisons deficit doesn't mean
offenders should be released early, said Laura
Hudson, executive director of the South Carolina Crime Victims Council.

I suggest they find a cheaper way to incarcerate
them =AD like they do in Arizona. They put up a
hurricane fence and they put them in pink jump
suits in tents,=94 Hudson said. =93I think that'd be a good idea.=94