PANEL URGES CHANGES IN SENTENCING

Panel Urges Changes In Sentencing Prison Recommended For State's
Violent Offenders, Alternative Routes For Others

COLUMBIA -- South Carolina prison beds should be reserved for the
most violent offenders, the state's Sentencing Reform Commission
recommended Tuesday.

Certain nonviolent offenders, such as drug users, should be given
alternative sentences, including probation and community service, and
geriatric and terminally ill inmates should be released to make room
for murderers, drug traffickers and rapists, according to the
commission's long-awaited report.

Such moves would save more than $92 million dollars in prison
operations in the next five years and prevent the need to build a
$317 million jailhouse, the report said. The savings could be shifted
to the currently overwhelmed probation and parole system, but the
money to keep a better watch on criminals out on the street won't be
immediately available.

The report calls for the Legislature to adopt a package of 24
recommendations that came from the commission's study of the upsurge
in repeat offenders, the overcrowding of state and local jails, the
increase in inmates incarcerated for nonviolent offenses, the lack of
alternative sentences and the impact of the prolonged budget slump in
South Carolina.

Key findings also include classifying 24 additional crimes as violent
offenses and requiring probation and parole agents to perform
specific risk assessments that evidence has found strongly indicate a
person's likelihood to commit future crimes.

State Sen. Gerald Malloy, a Hartsville Democrat who led the
commission through it's yearlong study, said he is optimistic that
the Legislature can put significant reforms in place before its
adjourn this summer.

"We can do better," he said. "We cannot afford to build new prisons
in South Carolina, but we also can't afford not to keep our citizens safe."

Malloy said he is confident based on vetting the recommendations
received by the commissioners, who included Republican and Democratic
legislators, judges and Department of Corrections Director Jon Ozmint.

Furman University sociologist Paul Kooistra said overhauling the
criminal justice system is complicated and requires politicians to
step outside their comfort zone.

Politicians all want to be tough on crime, Kooistra said. And
changing the way the state sentences criminals will be a tough sell
with the public that is accustomed to crime featured on television
shows and movies, he said.

"When people think about crime, they think about really bad, sick
people doing really bad things," Kooistra said. "They are not going
to think about low-level drug offenses or bicycle theft."

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R- Charleston, said he
expects the public will be receptive to the proposed changes. The
report does not suggest the state go easy on criminals; rather, it
calls for practical changes to the system, he said.

"It requires some bold steps forward," he said.

Currently, the state's prisons hold 24,781 inmates. If the state does
nothing to change the current system, the population is expected to
increase to almost 28,000 by 2015.

Nearly 50 percent of the state's prison population is being held for
nonviolent offenses, in part a result of the "war on drugs" from the
1980s. Thirty years ago, drug offenders made up 6 percent of the
population, compared with 20 percent in 2009.

Rep. Murrell Smith, a Sumter Republican who co-chaired the
commission, said the state was trying to respond to the crack
epidemic years ago, but as a result, sentences are a hodgepodge. The
commission tried to take a holistic approach and bring consistency in
sentencing, he said.

"I understand money is tight and that some of this is going to take
money," he said. "But in the long run, if you institute some of these
alternative procedures, you'll find this saves money and frees up bed
space so we can be tough on violent offenders."

AT A GLANCE

The Sentencing Reform Commission recommended the Legislature make 24
key changes to the criminal justice system that would save $92
million on prison-operating costs over five years and avoid the cost
of building a $317 million prison. The savings could be diverted
toward probation and parole services while freeing up prison beds for
violent offenders. Among the recommendations:

Assess inmates on probation and parole for antisocial behaviors,
criminal friends, dysfunctional families and substance abuse and
respond with treatment to reduce the risk that they will commit future crimes.

Classify 24 new offenses as violent crimes, including the following
actions that result in death: detonating a bomb on Capitol grounds,
boating under the influence and damaging airport equipment.

Put new requirements in place for the education and experience of
officials within probation and parole services.

Mandate new supervision for inmates who are released from prison.

Release terminally ill and geriatric inmates at the petition of only
the director of the Department of Corrections.

WHAT'S NEXT: Legislation will be introduced next week to enact each
recommendation issued in the report.