CAROLINAS FACE PRISON OVERFLOW

Inmate Populations Projected To Outpace Space Available

Inmates are pouring into North Carolina's prisons faster than the
state can build new ones.

Even as it spends hundreds of millions of dollars building new
prisons, North Carolina could face a prison overcrowding crisis by the
end of the decade.

Lawmakers, prosecutors and corrections officials say the answers could
boil down to two choices, and neither is politically popular: keep
building prisons or shorten some sentences. Otherwise, they warn,
North Carolina could face a federal takeover of its prison system, as
it did in the 1980s.

The state's prison population will top 40,000 by the end of the decade
and reach more than 44,000 by 2013, according to projections by the
N.C. Sentencing Commission.

But the state's prisons will be able to house only 37,743 inmates in
2008.

"The need for prison beds is not going away," warned Susan
Katzenelson, the sentencing commission's executive director. "There
will be a shortage of prison beds."

The sentencing commission this month will present its latest prison
population projections to state legislators who serve on the
appropriations committees.

Two years ago the sentencing commission, at the request of state
legislators, outlined ways to control the state's growing prison
population that could divert 4,600 criminals from prisons over 10 years.

One alternative would be to shorten sentences for many felons by two
months to a year. Another would dramatically slash prison sentences --
some by more than a half -- for nonviolent habitual felons.

A 21-year prison sentence for second-degree murder under the current
guidelines would be reduced to 20 years if legislators adopt one of
the sentencing commission's alternatives. A 24-year prison sentence
for first-degree rape would be cut to 23 years.

Issue Not Addressed

But state legislators so far have not shortened any penalties for
crimes. And with legislators up for re-election this year, it's
unlikely they'll take any action any time soon."Some people don't want
to be portrayed as being soft on crime," said N.C. Rep. Phil Haire,
D-Jackson. "They don't even want to look at these issues."

In South Carolina, the prison population reached 22,845 in 2003, an
increase of nearly 2,000 inmates over the previous two years. The
state's inmate population is projected to hit 30,700 by 2007. Unless
new construction is approved, the state expects to have only 25,000
prison beds in 2007.

S.C. House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, and three other
lawmakers have filed a bill that would allow nonviolent offenders
serving less than five years in prison to be eligible for programs
such as house arrest and electronic monitoring.

But that legislation, designed to help control the state's growing
inmate population, isn't likely to go anywhere.

"I've been informed that the bill is effectively dead," said Jon
Ozmint, director of the S.C. Department of Corrections.

Ozmint expressed concern at the increasing prison population.

"It's my job to be worried about that growth," he said. "And it's my
job to keep the legislature informed about that growth. We're growing
at such a rate we know we're going to need more beds. And right now,
there's no money to build more beds."

Rethinking Approach

Across the country, after decades of imposing harsher sentences and
building more prisons, state legislatures are rethinking their
get-tough approach to crime as they struggle with budget crises.

About two dozen states in the past year have passed laws eliminating
some lengthy mandatory minimum sentences, restoring early releases for
parole and offering treatment instead of imprisonment for some drug
offenders.

. Michigan has dropped its lengthy mandatory minimum sentences for
drug offenders -- among the toughest in the nation.

. Colorado has moved to reduce the large number of criminals being
sent back to prison for technical parole violations such as failing
urine tests or not showing up for appointments with parole officers.

. Missouri has passed a law allowing inmates convicted of property
crimes to apply for release from prison after only four months rather
than serving a third of their time behind bars -- typically four to
seven years.

In North Carolina, Haire, a member of the sentencing commission,
warned that legislators are running out of time.

Rep.: Won't Jeopardize Safety

Haire thinks reducing sentences for some felons makes more sense than
spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new prisons."We're not
talking about putting rapists and murderers back on the streets,"
Haire said. "We're talking about low-level criminals, those who commit
property crimes. Shortening their sentences would not jeopardize
public safety."

Charlotte defense lawyer Lyle Yurko, a sentencing commission member,
warns that North Carolina's legislators cannot ignore the projections
of mounting prison populations.

Yurko said shortening a prison sentence from 20 years to 19 1/2 years
would not endanger North Carolinians.

"Public safety will not be jeopardized if a few months are subtracted
from very lengthy sentences," Yurko said. "We don't have the funds in
this state to build 10,000 more prison beds. The suggestions the
sentencing commission made on reducing punishments are a reasonable
solution to a difficult issue.

"If this issue is not addressed, it will destroy the progress we've
made over the last 10 years. We've gone from having one of the worst
punishment systems in the country to one of the best. It would be a
shame to retreat from that progress," Yurko said.

DA: Not What Citizens Want

But the sentencing commission's suggestions haven't set well with
prosecutors across the state.

Buncombe County District Attorney Ron Moore said the state should not
be reducing sentences to manage prison populations.

"I don't think that's what the citizens of this state want," said
Moore, who serves on the sentencing commission. "Citizens want to feel
safe in their homes. They want to be able to go to the mall and not
get their purses snatched. They want to know that if their home has
been broken into that the people responsible will be punished."

Moore blames the need for more prisons on North Carolina's dramatic
population growth during the past decade. North Carolina's population,
now at more than 8 million, increased 21.4 percent during the 1990s
and is projected to top 9 million by 2015.

Moore, Buncombe County's district attorney since 1991, said he
prosecutes about 50 habitual felons every year.

"These are people who have made a career out of thievery," the
prosecutor said. "These are career criminals, and we've gotten rid of
them. We shouldn't be reducing their sentences.

"It's not like we're sending everybody in this state to prison. There
are currently more than 115,000 people on probation in North Carolina."

North Carolina has recently completed construction on two 1,000-bed
maximum-security prisons, and another 1,000-bed maximum-security
prison is scheduled to open in April. Construction will soon begin on
three more 1,000-bed maximum-security prisons.

The new prisons, which each cost about $75 million to build and $25
million a year to operate, will give the state a total of 37,743
prison beds in 2008. But that won't be enough beds for the 39,567
inmates expected in the state prison system that year.

The sentencing commission projects that that by 2010 the prison
population is expected to reach 41,396. Three years later, by 2013,
inmate population is projected to reach 44,094.

Superior Court Judge Erwin Spainhour, the sentencing commission's
chairman, acknowledged that shortening sentences -- even for
nonviolent criminals -- is viewed by some as "exceptionally
controversial."

"Nobody wants to shorten sentences," he said. "But the state has got
to address this issue. We can either bring back parole, which nobody
wants, we can build more prisons, or we can modify some sentences a
little bit."

Haire, who serves on the House's appropriations committee, said he and
his colleagues in the legislature must make some tough decisions.

"It's going to take some political will to do this," Haire said. "We
can't keep building more prisons like we've been doing."