REPORT: W.VA. MUST CAP PRISON POPULATION

MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia lawmakers should cap prison populations at
current levels and fund a statewide day-reporting program for nonviolent
offenders that could save tens of millions of dollars a year, two groups
conclude in a new report on the explosive cost of corrections.

The Appalachian Institute at Wheeling Jesuit University and the West
Virginia Council of Churches authored the report to be released today in
Charleston. It was co-sponsored by Grassroots Leadership, an activist group
in Charlotte, N.C., that focuses on criminal justice and opposes privately
run prisons.

The number of people imprisoned in West Virginia more than doubled between
1994 and 2004, from 2,392 to 5,032, the report says. In 2001, the state had
the nation's highest growth rate in incarceration at 9.3 percent -- even
though the population and crime rates remained flat.

If the trend continues, the report says, prison populations could soar
another 35 percent by 2012.

"The state must ensure public safety. But it cannot afford to mortgage its
economic and educational future to an ever-expanding prison system," said
Jill Kriesky, executive director of the Appalachian Institute.

The report notes that investment in education has been nearly flat since
1990, while the state has spent nearly $120 million to build new prisons.

The Rev. Brian O'Donnell, research director at the Appalachian Institute,
said Wheeling Jesuit began studying corrections spending last fall in hopes
of finding money that could be freed up for need-based scholarships.

The report advocates expansion of low-cost programs like the Lee Day Report
Center, which serves nonviolent offenders in Marshall, Ohio, Hancock and
Brooke counties.

In West Virginia, two of every five felony convictions stem from a
nonviolent crime, O'Donnell said. Those people could be well served by day
reporting centers.

Expanding them statewide would create huge savings, the report says -- $18
million to $27 million per year with three centers, and $42 million to $63
million with seven centers.

"Day report centers are a no-brainer," O'Donnell said. "Just fund the
things. Were the appropriations to be made, these could move forward very
quickly."

Gov. Joe Manchin's budget proposes an $800,000 infusion for community
corrections.

But the Rev. Dennis Sparks, executive director of the West Virginia Council
of Churches, would like to see at least $2 million set aside.

The report finds two main causes for prison growth: Some crimes in West
Virginia carry longer sentences than other states impose, and state
officials have become less likely to dole out parole.