MORE FEMALE OFFENDERS TAX S.C. PROGRAMS

Officials Urge More Services, Halfway Houses

COLUMBIA (AP) - New programs are needed to handle the increasing number of
women who commit crimes in South Carolina, the director of the Department
of Probation, Parole and Pardons Services says.

"Supervising the female offender is totally different than supervising the
male offender," said agency director Jim McClain.

McClain this week held the first in a series of forums to get advice from
drug abuse counselors, defense attorneys, academicians, his officers,
people who operate domestic abuse shelters and offenders.

Women made up 13 percent of the state offender population 10 years ago,
McClain said. Today, they make up 17 percent. About 6,000 of the 35,000
offenders his agency supervises are women.

Also, there are about 1,700 women in S.C. prisons.

Nationally, the number of men under correctional control increased by 45
percent during the past decade, while the number of women increased 83
percent, according to a National Institute of Corrections study published
in June.

Female offenders tend to be nonviolent, but most have substance abuse
problems, Sumter County probation Pfficer Polly Smith said. Most have been
victims of domestic or sexual abuse, she said.

Most female offenders have at least a high-school diploma, making them a
much better-educated group than male offenders on average. Most of the
women committed drug, traffic or property offenses.

"If we can get them off drugs and get them a job, they usually turn
around," Smith said.

Sammie Brown, a program coordinator with the Corrections Department, said
drug treatment staff for women's prisons has been significantly reduced by
budget cuts. Job training opportunities have declined, too, she said.

Kathy Riley, with The Women's Shelter in Columbia, told McClain that
halfway house beds are needed to help women make the transition from prison.

In South Carolina, there are 16 state-run halfway house beds for women and
about 200 for men, said Anne Walker, executive director of the Alston
Wilkes Society.

McClain said he will ask legislators for about $1 million to reopen a
Columbia residential halfway house restitution center. The center was
closed because of budget cuts last year.

McClain wants the center to serve women exclusively.

Two such centers operate in Spartanburg and Charleston. McClain said they
help offenders clear up crime-related financial obligations while remaining
drug free and adjusting to full-time work.