GEORGIA RETHINKS ITS PRISON STANCE

Conservative states across the South have altered their approach to
criminal sentencing in recent years by replacing the tough-on-crime
mantra with a "smart on crime" philosophy that supporters say saves
money and could even cut repeat offenses.

Georgia may be next.

The General Assembly this winter will debate a shift in emphasis
toward alternatives to prison time for nonviolent offenders, as
suggested by a special council appointed last year to study the
state's prison population and criminal code. The effect of its
recommendations would be to send fewer people to jail for property
and drug crimes and boost alternative punishments.

That shift has the firm backing of Gov. Nathan Deal, who said it is
time for Georgia to follow the lead of Texas, South Carolina and
other Southern states and take a more effective approach to punishment.

He said Georgia, which now spends more than $1 billion a year on
state prisons and has seen its inmate population double in the past
20 years, simply cannot afford to keep the current sentencing regime.

"We're at a point in time where the necessity for doing something has
gotten so big that to turn our head and pretend the problem does not
exist is not responsible government," Deal said in an interview.

"If we don't make some changes, we'll see an ever-increasing
percentage of our state budget having to be allocated to our
correction system. That takes away funding for things like education
and other areas where many think the money is better spent."

While Georgia has some of the toughest criminal penalties in the
nation for violent and repeat offenders, almost every convict is
spending more time behind bars these days than ever before.

The average inmate released this year after serving time for drug
possession, for example, spent almost two years locked up -- more
than double the average time served two decades ago. The average
length of time spent behind bars for drug and property crimes in
general has more than tripled since 1990.

It costs Georgia $51 a day to keep drug offenders and other
nonviolent criminals locked up.

The Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform -- comprised of
judges, lawmakers and other officials -- said Georgia's prison
population will increase by 8 percent to almost 60,000 inmates by
2016 if current policies remain in place. That jump will require
taxpayers to spend an additional $264 million for more prison beds
over the next five years.

The council found that most of the people being sent to prison are
not murderers, rapists or robbers who held a gun to someone's head.
Drug and property offenders represent almost 60 percent of prison admissions.

Those pushing for change say the public can save money and even
improve safety by removing some non-violent offenders from prison and
finding other ways to make them accountable, while also turning them
into productive citizens who take care of their kids and pay their taxes.

"It's not productive to put a non-violent offender in prison when
they might have a drug problem, not a criminal problem, or a mental
health problem, not a criminal problem," said Kelly McCutchen,
president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a conservative
think tank that has advocated for change in Georgia's criminal sentencing.

The Special Council recommended tweaks to the criminal code that
would result in shorter sentences or probation for some non-violent
criminals. It also recommended beefing up the alternatives to prison.

Expanding "accountability" courts is one option with wide support.
These are drug, mental health and veterans' courts that seek to treat
an offender's underlying issues instead of locking the person up.
Many of these courts, which monitor offenders closely with tough
requirements to hold a job, stay in treatment and pass drug tests,
have shown remarkable success rates, but they are not available
throughout the state.

Deal said he will ask the General Assembly to spend $10 million for
new accountability courts. "We believe there will be a benefit and
financial savings that will come from these courts, diverting people
out of the prison system," the governor said.

Changes to the criminal code proved to be more controversial among
those on the special council, especially when it came to drug
offenses. But the group reached consensus on some changes, including:

- - Increasing the threshold that makes a theft a felony to $1,500 --
up from the current $500 which was established in 1982 -- and
increasing the felony threshold of theft by shoplifting from $300 to $750.
- - Adjusting sentencing ranges for burglaries, with more serious
punishment reserved for break-ins of homes and less severe sentences
for burglaries of unoccupied structures, such as tool sheds, barns
and other buildings.
- - Giving judges a "safety value" that would allow them, after making
certain findings, to depart from mandatory sentences in the current
law for drug trafficking.

The council did not reach consensus on drug crimes, but it pointed
out that nearly 3,200 offenders were sent to prison ieach year for
drug possession. Two-thirds of these inmates were assessed as having
a relatively low risk to offend again. Some on the council argued
that probation is often the appropriate sentence.

Douglas County District Attorney David McDade, one of Deal's
appointees on the commission, was the most vociferous opponent of
easing up on drug offenders.

To give only probation for having small quantities of illegal drugs
in effect "decriminalizes drug possession," he said.

"I think the legislative leadership will look at this report and see
a number of common sense proposals that will receive broad support,"
McDade said. "But there are a number of proposals that are not what
Georgians support, because they put at risk public safety."

Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Michael Boggs of Waycross, also member
of the council, called the recommendations a good start.

"We don't have to reinvent the wheel," Boggs said. "We have seen
similar reform efforts enacted in some very conservative states,
which have seen significant cost savings and maintained public safety."

Boggs said he is aware there may be criticisms the council did not go
far enough. "But you start slow and work toward some significant
reform," he said. "You can't do it all in one legislative session."

Stepping away from a lock-em-up philosophy might have been the
equivalent of political suicide in the 1990s, but that's hardly the
case today. Many leading conservatives -- including Newt Gingrich and
former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and many others -- support an approach
that de-emphasizes prison for non-violent offenders.

Texas was among the first states to change course. In 2007, facing
the need to spend $540 million to build new prisons expected to cost
another $1.5 billion to run, the state decided to spend a fraction of
the anticipated prison costs on alternative programs for non-violent
offenders. Since the change, both the crime rate and the
incarceration rate have declined.

In 2010, South Carolina adopted a reform package after lawmakers
found that prisons were packed with repeat and non-violent offenders.
The changes, projected to save up to $175 million in prison
construction costs and $66 million in operating costs over five
years, are designed to improve public safety. North Carolina also
adopted sweeping legislation last year that will reduce spending on
corrections with the goal of increasing public safety through
programs that should cut repeat offenses.

Deal said changes enacted in other states will give Georgia models to
consider. And so far, he said, he is hearing positive responses from
lawmakers of all stripes.

"As members of the General Assembly continue to see demands placed on
them to appropriate more money for incarceration and see the numbers
of inmates continue to rise substantially every year," Deal said, "I
think they're certainly willing to embrace these changes."