CASH-STRAPPED STATE RELAXING TOUGH-ON-CRIME REGULATIONS

FRANKFORT - Prison sentences in Kentucky, which have grown longer for
years, are expected to shrink in coming months as the state government runs
short on cash.

The Kentucky Parole Board adopted a risk-assessment scoring system in
January that makes it possible to grant parole to nearly half of the
eligible inmates, up from one-third of the eligible inmates just a year ago.

Also, the General Assembly this month approved a bill to let prisoners work
off part of their sentences through community service, possibly saving the
Corrections Department more than $5 million a year.

This trend of shortened prison sentences -- in Kentucky and other
revenue-starved states -- reverses a decade of tough-on-crime measures that
led to soaring prison populations.

It also follows a public relations fiasco by Gov. Paul Patton this winter.
Patton released nearly 900 prisoners months before their sentences expired
to ease the state budget crunch. Several of them were rearrested on charges
including rape and bank robbery. Patton hastily ended the furloughs.

However, Kentucky remains strapped for funds and pays an average $17,670 a
year to hold each of its 16,000 prisoners, a population 60 percent greater
than a decade ago.

If some inmates are judged a low recidivism risk and sent home early, that
eases the burden on taxpayers and leaves more money to permanently lock up
criminals who are truly dangerous, said Parole Board executive director
Keith Hardison.

But prosecutors warn that crime rates sank in the 1990s precisely because
more criminals were in prison. Cutting prisoners loose ahead of schedule
shows disrespect to jury sentencing recommendations and erodes the
principle of punishment, they said.

"Whoever our criminal-justice wise guys are, they apparently aren't
concerned with people who violate the law being made to suffer the
consequences of their actions," said Fayette Commonwealth's Attorney Ray
Larson.

Other states close prisons

Many states that cracked down on crime during the 1990s, adding
mandatory-minimum sentences and stricter parole guidelines, now face a
budget crisis. Even the most conservative governors realize they cannot
afford to keep locking up more criminals.

Indiana and Louisiana have repealed some of their stiffer sentencing laws
for drug crimes and other non-violent offenses. Ohio, Illinois, Michigan
and Massachusetts have closed prisons.

By contrast, the Kentucky Corrections Department's $310 million annual
budget "was left pretty much intact" in this year's state budget, said
department spokeswoman Lisa Lamb. No prison closings are planned, Lamb said.

Instead, Kentucky is focused on releasing its prisoners faster if they are
determined to be a low risk for committing new crimes.

The Parole Board has adopted a risk-assessment form that analyzes parole
candidates and awards points based on criteria including age, marital
status, level of education, criminal record and behavior in prison. The
most attractive parole candidates are older, married and enrolled in
classes behind bars.

Previously, the nine-member board decided each inmate's parole request
individually, without any uniform criteria, Hardison said.

Under the previous system, the board's judgment was increasingly
conservative. During the last dozen years, board members denied the
majority of parole requests. The average length of time served in prisons
steadily rose from 11.5 months to 15.5 months.

And not everyone thought the board was fair, Hardison said. "There had been
concerns expressed about consistency," he said. "Were we applying the same
factors consistently to all inmates in all cases?"

Fairness was the reason for switching to a new system, not cost, Hardison
said. But parole rates -- the percentage of prisoners eligible for parole
who are released each year -- are swiftly rising.

In recent years, the parole rate hovered between 30 to 35 percent. In
January, the parole rate was 47 percent; 554 felons were sent home before
their sentences expired.

"Yes, the parole rate went up in January when this system came on line. The
rate went up again in February," Hardison said. "But it's too early to say
for certain to what degree the new system is responsible, or whether the
trend will continue."

Going home early

At the Capitol this winter, legislators writing a tight state budget hoped
to squeeze out a few million dollars by helping prisoners go home early.

Senate Bill 123, awaiting the governor's signature, would let prisoners
reduce their sentences by one day for every 40 hours of community service
work they perform. Inmates could not participate if they had been convicted
of violent or sex crimes, or escape.

The bill also would halve the pay that inmates earn for their work, which
now ranges from 80 cents to $2 a day.

The Corrections Department's budget is based in part on the expectation
that 1,800 inmates a year will perform community service and cut their
sentences, saving the state up to $5.2 million a year, said the bill's
sponsor, Sen. Gary Tapp, R-Shelbyville.

Kenton Smith, president of the Kentucky Commonwealth's Attorneys
Association, said he does not oppose Tapp's bill. But Smith said he does
worry that prisoners working in the community have access to weapons and
drugs, which they can smuggle into their cells.

"Anytime you have inmates coming and going from an institution, you
absolutely see a rise in contraband," said Smith, a prosecutor in
Breckinridge, Meade and Grayson counties.