NO ROOM IN PRISON

Kentucky's inmate population -- now at roughly 21,000 -- is growing at
a faster rate than any other state's, and the need for action
increases every day.

As The Courier-Journal's R.G. Dunlop reported last Sunday, almost all
state-run prisons and many jails are operating at or above capacity.
Kentucky's corrections budget approached $500 million this year. And
relying on private prisons to pick up inmate overflow, which is no
less expensive than using state-run facilities, has managed to create
even more problems.

When Otter Creek Correctional Center, which is run by Corrections
Corp. of America -- the country's largest private-prison operator --
was a women's prison, inmates suffered sexual abuse by male employees,
substandard health care and inadequate maintenance that allowed human
waste to back up through shower drains. By monitoring records, The
Courier-Journal also found significant gaps in state oversight at
Otter Creek for nearly three months in 2008 and again in 2009.

"The facts are that private vendors compromise safety and security to
keep down costs," Michele Deitch, an attorney and University of Texas
criminal justice professor, said. "They save money by hiring
inexperienced staff at the low end of the wage scale. When you've got
inexperienced, poorly trained staff, you've got a recipe for security
and safety problems in a prison."

However, Justice Secretary J. Michael Brown told the C-J that Kentucky
couldn't just walk away from private prisons because it doesn't have
anywhere else to house inmates. Of the not "very many really good
options," Brown said, the state's best choice was to partner with CCA.

Robert Lawson, a University of Kentucky law professor and author of a
recent report on the state's prison population, said he questioned
state officials' ability to provide adequate oversight, but he
concluded that Kentucky "can't do without" private prisons.

But everyone seems to be ignoring the elephant -- or tens of thousands
of prisoners -- in the room: the need to amend sentencing laws for
nonviolent offenders. Kentucky doesn't need more prison space; it
needs fewer inmates. Amending laws so that nonviolent offenders don't
do lengthy sentences, or instead draw automatic minimum sentences,
would mean those convicted of nonviolent drug and gambling crimes
would do less or no jail time -- freeing up more space in state-run
prisons and, one hopes, eliminating the need for private prisons.

Kentucky paid CCA $21 million during the past fiscal year -- money
that could have been better spent somewhere else. Legislators should
stop ignoring prison overcrowding for fear of looking soft on crime
and start working toward a rational solution.