SOLVE PRISON CROWDING

Alternative Sentencing Could Help Keep Costs in Control

South Carolina is facing another tough budget year, one of a string of
increasingly difficult budget situations. State lawmakers will be hard
put to maintain current state services without raising taxes.

And now the state Department of Corrections may be asking for $50
million next year to build new prisons.

Some nerve, huh?

The department has no choice. And state lawmakers and taxpayers are
going to have to face the fact that it costs money to lock people up.

These trends of more inmates and less money for prisons can't
continue. They will either result in prison violence and/or federal
lawsuits that lead to judges dictating how much the state must spend
on prisons.

The General Assembly has to come up with some solutions. One would be
more money for prisons. If we are determined to keep locking people
up, that is our only option. The problem is that the state doesn't
have the money to spend, not without raising taxes and further
dampening the economy.

But the state could minimize the amount of money needed by taking
advantage of alternative sentences.

Half of the state's inmates are nonviolent offenders. They can be
sentenced to house arrest and monitored. Combined with treatment for
drug offenders, house arrest could put a significant dent in the
prison population. Less serious offenses could be served over time on
weekends. Such sentences could even include labor for the state.