TOO MANY INMATES

State Must Assess High Incarceration Rate

As the principal drafter of the state's penal code and its rules of
evidence, Robert Lawson wrote the book on criminal justice in Kentucky.

Now, the longtime University of Kentucky law professor has written a
report that suggests we are throwing the book at too many convicted
criminals, locking them up at unnecessarily high rates and for
unnecessarily long sentences, thereby driving the state's
incarceration costs to unsustainable levels.

Although prosecutors say the increased number of people being held in
the state's prisons and jails translate to increased public safety on
the outside, the numbers Lawson cites in his report make a compelling
argument that the "lock them up and throw away the key" mentality has
gone a bit overboard in Kentucky.

Lawson points out that the number of inmates in Kentucky grew from
2,838 in 1970 to 17,330 last year and that the cost of housing those
prisoners rose from $7 million in 1970 to more than $300 million last
year.

That's a population increase of more than 600 percent and a cost
increase of more than 4,200 percent. And absent some changes in the
laws or policies, the growth will continue.

State Corrections Commissioner John Rees says the number of prisoners
is growing at a rate of 1 percent a month this year. It's predicted
that the number of prisoners in 2010 will be 4,350 more than today.

To keep up with such growth, the state would have to build a new
prison every two years. But the only way for a revenue-strapped state
to do that is by cutting deeply into spending on other services.

Of course, no one wants hard-core or violent criminals loosed on our
streets. Lawson isn't suggesting that, and neither are we.

But Lawson makes a good case that excessive sentences for minor crimes
and drug offenses are responsible for Kentucky's burgeoning prison
population.

In particular, he notes that changes to the law over the years have
made Kentucky's persistent felon statute "brutally harsh" and one of
the few in the nation that applies to non-violent offenses.

Lawson is not alone in suggesting that that we should not be sending
people to prison for long lengths of time for minor drug offenses.

Virtually from day one, Gov. Ernie Fletcher's administration has said
that Kentucky can't incarcerate its way out its drug problem and has
touted treatment as a cheaper and more effective approach. Lawson's
report buttresses that argument.

We would hope that Lawson's findings would prompt both the
administration and the General Assembly to take a critical look at the
criminal justice system, with an eye toward ensuring that our
punishments truly fit the crimes.

After all, when the guy who wrote the book tells us we're getting it
wrong, the least we can do is take the time to find out if he's right.