PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICIALS URGE LEGISLATORS TO NOT CLOSE A PRISON

ATLANTA - With the state prison system trying to cut millions from its
budget, public safety officials urged state leaders Tuesday to avoid
closing a state prison or ending programs that help parolees make the
transition to freedom.

A handful of state legislators met Tuesday with officials from the
Department of Corrections and the Board of Pardons and Paroles, along
with sheriffs, judges and district attorneys, to discuss the proposed
state budget cuts.

"It's very easy for a small county sheriff to come up here and tell
you what you need to do," Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee said
Tuesday. "I want to tell you that any state cutbacks will affect us on
the county level. ... They will have a tremendous burden to the taxpayers."

If a prison is closed, state Rep. Mike Snow, D-Chickamauga, said,
"We've all heard rumors that we've got to fire staff or put prisoners
on the streets or close prisons and move inmates to prisons that don't
have any space available. None of these solutions sounds good to me."

Last year, Gov. Sonny Perdue asked all state agency heads to cut 2.5
percent from their budgets for the 2004 fiscal year and another 5
percent from 2005 budgets. The cuts were requested because the state
is facing a budget shortfall that some estimates place at $1 billion.
This year, each agency was asked to submit three budgets - one that
provides cuts, another that keeps spending the same and a third that
asks for additional funding. Legislators will meet in January to begin
working on the next fiscal budget.

The Department of Corrections is still trying to cut $38 million from
its 2005 fiscal budget, and the Board of Pardons and Paroles has
proposed cutting $1.3 million from its 2006 budget. In the last year,
agencies have trimmed their budgets by cutting staffing and treatment
programs and put off opening a prison.

Local officials Tuesday also urged the state to continue drug and
alcohol treatment programs and to increase funding for
alternative-sentencing programs to keep people out of prison.

Department of Corrections Commissioner James Donald said his agency is
looking hard at what it can cut from its current budget. He said it's
already trimmed staffing and is about to freeze all open jobs, but
that still won't make up for the budget loss. He said one option is to
close a 1,600-bed state prison, but Donald didn't say which one he
might close.

"It's clear to this country boy that I cannot make that decision (to
close a prison) all by myself," Donald said. "This is the first step
in the process .. but we have to look at all our options."

Donald did not discuss what other cuts might be made for fiscal
2006.

He said there are about 54,000 inmates in state prisons and 4,000
inmates in county jails waiting to get into the state system. He said
many prisons are at maximum capacity and working with bare-bones staffing.

"We have survived since 2001 on the backs of our staff, and right now
we're not in a critical situation," Donald said. "I don't know if I
can come up here and say that if we continue to cut staffing."

State Board of Pardons and Paroles Chairman Milton "Buddy" Nix said
his agency might have to cut drug treatment programs across the state
to make their budget work.

"Public safety drives every decision we make," Nix said. "Ninety
percent of all parolees have substance-abuse problems and our goal has
been to provide them treatment ... research shows that every month a
parolee gets treatment, he's less likely to offend."

Snow, the Chickamauga state representative, asked Nix how the board
would handle parole decisions if the Department of Corrections had to
close a prison. Nix said each case would continue to be looked at on
an individual basis.

Cordele Judicial Circuit District Attorney Denise Fachini said she is
concerned the budget cuts will put criminals back on the streets.

"We must keep serious, violent felons in the prison system as long as
they need to be there," Fachini said. "We understand and agree that
whatever alternatives are there, we will lap them up like little
children ... but they have to be funded."

Massee said that his agency is already seeing the effects of state
budgets cuts in the GBI. He said budget cuts created a backlog at the
GBI crime labs and a shortage in the staffing of GBI agents statewide.

"We had a calendar call (in Baldwin County Superior Court on Monday)
and 25 cases had to be continued because GBI reports weren't in or
defendants were awaiting a mental evaluation," Massee said. "The
wheels really stop when the reports come in and then they ask for a
mental evaluation ... that might put the case off for another six months."