SENTENCING REFORM IS 'SMART ON CRIME'

Lawmakers and Gov. Mark Sanford deserve credit
for passing and signing a sentencing reform bill
that this state needed in order to make residents
safer and save taxpayers money.

The bill enacts reforms that mirror the
recommendations of the South Carolina Sentencing
Reform Commission that was empanelled by
lawmakers. The goal of the reforms is to save
taxpayers money, help the Corrections Department
run more efficiently, equip nonviolent offenders
with the skills they need to become productive
citizens and ensure that the state's prisons have
room for the most dangerous offenders.

If estimates prove accurate, the new rules could
save the state more than $400 million over time.
That's important for a Corrections Department
that is already the most frugal in the nation yet
faces significant financial struggles.

In a news release praising the bill, Sanford
rightly summarized its benefits: =93It's designed
not only to make our Corrections process even
more lean and effective =85 but also to reduce
overall crime and consequently improve the
quality of life we enjoy as South Carolinians.=94
The need for these sentencing reforms is obvious.
According to the findings of the Sentencing
Reform Commission published earlier this year:

The state's prison population has increased to
more than 25,000 inmates from 9,137 in 1983.

Nearly half of the state's inmates are being held for nonviolent offenses.

The percentage of inmates being held for
drug-related offenses has tripled in the past 29 years.

The four most common offenses for state prison
inmates are drug charges, burglary, check fraud
and driving under suspension, according to an Associated Press report.

If the trends continue, it could cost the state
$317 million to add prison space needed to house the growing inmate
population.

The Corrections Department's budget has increased
more than 500 percent =AD to $394.1 million from
$63.7 million =AD between 1983 and 2008.

According to the commission, the changes could
save taxpayers $92 million in operating costs
over five years in addition to the expense of
building a new prison. At the same time, it would
divert nonviolent offenders out of prison to
ensure there's space in the existing institutions for the most violent
inmates.

The law, which took effect last week, will allow
some nonviolent offenders to avoid prison and
will help those on probation and parole better
adjust to life outside of prisons. That will help
reduce repeat offenses, prevent those on
probation or parole from being returned to prison
for technical violations, and reduce the Corrections Department's
expenses.

The bill also redefines what offenses are violent offenses.

These changes were needed. Their implementation
will save money, it will make our prison staff
and residents safer, and it will give nonviolent
offenders a better chance at becoming productive citizens.

As Sanford said in a recent report in
Charleston's Post and Courier , this bill is
=93smart on crime.=94 All of those who helped make
these significant changes deserve credit for
their efforts at enacting sensible sentencing reform.