STATE'S PRISON GROWTH HANDCUFFS TAXPAYERS

Criminals aren't the only people locked behind bars in North Carolina.

So are ordinary taxpayers. Their bars are forged of fear, political
expediency and the rising costs of running an ever-expanding
correctional system.

The state's prison construction boom proceeds rapidly, with two
maximum-security facilities scheduled to open this year and another
in 2007. Each provides 1,000 cells and costs about $100 million.
Combined, they'll raise total inmate capacity to about 39,000.

That won't do for long. A recent report to the N.C. Sentencing and
Policy Advisory Commission projects the need to add another 6,000 to
10,000 prison beds over the next decade.

If the most dire forecast holds true, the state will house nearly
50,000 inmates by 2016 -- not counting more than 20,000 in county
jails and youngsters in juvenile detention centers.

Inmate population in the state system stands at just under 37,000. It
cost an average of $23,200 to maintain each one last year, and more
than that for those under maximum security. That means the 3,000 new
cells coming on line next will be occupied by the most expensive prisoners.

A growing chorus of critics -- including Angela Davis, who spoke at
UNCG last week -- faults the nation's prison-industrial complex for
its expense and ineffectiveness. The charges are difficult to refute
when little "correction" seems to occur behind prison walls and North
Carolina's system approaches a billion dollars in annual operating costs.

But taxpayers may be as imprisoned as inmates themselves. Fear of
crime provokes demands from the public that felons should be locked
up and stay locked up. Politicians are eager to comply but reluctant
to look for measures that might address the problem in more creative ways.

The result is a get-tough approach that simultaneously feeds more
teenagers into the system as adult offenders and leaves aging inmates
in longer.

No reasonable person is ready to throw open the prison doors.
Dangerous offenders should be incarcerated. But the state owes a
vigorous pursuit of two new initiatives: re-examining the cases of
inmates sentenced under outdated guidelines to determine if some have
served enough time and can be released safely; and studying whether
criminal suspects who are 16 and 17 always should be placed in the
adult criminal-justice system or whether sometimes the juvenile
system can deal with them more effectively.

In addition, greater resources should be invested in community
correctional programs, including drug treatment, community service,
probation and electronic monitoring. Although expensive, these
efforts offer a chance to save money in the long run.

Public safety is most important in dealing with criminals, but
continually building more cells ultimately imprisons taxpayers.