LAWMAKERS MUST FIND A WAY TO USE ALTERNATIVE SENTENCING

Legislation that would allow nonviolent offenders to serve their sentences
outside state prisons is in trouble because of opposition by prosecutors.

House Speaker David Wilkins sponsored a bill that would send nonviolent
offenders to prison for the start of the sentence and then allow
Corrections Department officials to determine whether they should be moved
to an alternative sentence such as house arrest and electronic monitoring.

It is a good plan that would relieve the crowding in the state's prisons
while the Corrections Department is struggling to contend with a series of
budget cuts.

But the state's circuit solicitors oppose the legislation. They want the
court system, not corrections officials, to determine the sentence an
offender serves.

They have a point, but it's not an insurmountable obstacle.

Lawmakers should work with prosecutors and the Corrections Department to
devise a bill that would meet everyone's goals and take care of any objections.

Increased use of alternative sentencing will be necessary to maintain the
safe and efficient operation of the state's prisons. The only alternative
is to spend much more money on prisons -- money the state doesn't have.

The state's prison population has been growing. It grew by 1,100 inmates
last year and by 2,500 in the past three years.

And the Corrections Department has had to deal with more inmates using
fewer guards as the state continues to cut the department's budget.

Corrections Department Director Jon Ozmint has been pushing for alternative
sentences for nonviolent offenders to relieve some of this burden from his
agency. Wilkins' bill is an attempt to meet that need.

If it doesn't do so in a way that is palatable to prosecutors, it should be
changed to ease their objections. But it shouldn't have to be scrapped.

Alternative sentencing would not only reduce prison crowding, it would save
the state money in that offenders could continue to work and could pay for
their own punishment. It would also reduce the social cost of crime,
helping to keep offenders' families together. And it would also facilitate
the treatment of drug offenders.

There are too many reasons why alternative sentencing is needed to let the
drive die in the General Assembly this year.