GEORGIA NEEDS OPTIONS TO PRISON

Gov.-elect Nathan Deal has earned his stripes as a tough-as-nails
prosecutor. At the same time, prosecutors in Georgia and around the
nation also see up close the many low-level, nonviolent offenders who
cycle through the system.

In Texas, which is known for its law and order approach, one impetus
for successful reforms was prosecutors and judges who told lawmakers
they were reluctantly sending low-level, nonviolent offenders to
prisons who were not a danger and could succeed in a community
corrections program.

Their problem was that few alternatives to hold them accountable were
available.

As Georgia's leaders confront a budget shortfall, they can learn much
from the approach Texas has taken. Since Texas strengthened
community-based supervision, sanctions and treatment options for
nonviolent offenders in 2005 rather than build new prisons, the state
has avoided more than $2 billion in prison costs.

Most importantly, Texas has realized a 9 percent reduction in crime.
In fact, the Texas crime rate in 2009 is at its lowest point since 1973.

Georgia is ripe for reform. In Georgia, about one adult in 13 is
under correctional control, either on probation or parole, or behind
bars. This is the highest rate in the nation.

The national average is one in 31. About one adult in 70 is behind
bars in Georgia. The state spends more than $1 billion per year on
housing approximately 60,000 inmates.

Corrections costs have grown fivefold since 1985. Longer sentences
have driven Georgia's prison growth. For instance, the average inmate
released in 2009 on a drug possession charge spent 21 months locked
up, compared with 10 months in 1990. Georgia has 8,969 inmates
sentenced for a drug offense, which costs taxpayers $151 million per year.

Support is growing for ways to achieve a greater reduction in the
crimes that most harm the public for every dollar spent. Georgia
House Speaker David Ralston said, "I think the dialogue has already started."

Fortunately, there are many solutions that have worked. In fact,
there is room to expand upon some of the community-based approaches
that are already working in Georgia, such as drug courts and day
reporting centers.

Georgia has 28 drug courts, where nonviolent offenders with a
substance abuse problem are held directly accountable on an ongoing
basis by a judge and required to attend treatment. The state's drug
courts have a 12 percent recidivism rate, but they were cut in 2008
at the same time the prison system received more money. At the
state's 11 day reporting centers which state data indicate are
reducing recidivism, offenders are required to learn a trade, work
and attend treatment if needed.

Other solutions include improving parole supervision, such as the
recent adoption in Texas of instant drug testing with immediate
referrals to treatment and greater use of graduated sanctions and
incentives to keep parolees in line, rather than let violations pile
up that result in revocation to prison. In 2009, Texas also
recognized that a job is often the best recidivism-reduction program
and enacted legislation enabling most ex-offenders to obtain
provisional occupational licenses in many occupations.

As Georgia's next leaders take office pledging to enact reforms that
promote more accountability and smaller government, the criminal
justice system is an ideal place to begin making corrections.