FIGHTING BUDGET PROBLEMS BY FREEING CRIMINALS A RIDICULOUS SOLUTION

So this is what Kentucky has come to - a state so broke that one of the few
ways the governor can find to save money is to let criminals go free.

Gov. Paul Patton's plan to throw open jail cells and release hundreds of
inmates early to help turn around Kentucky's sagging economy and budget
crisis isn't just absurd. It ought to be considered criminal, as Hardin
County Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Shaw put it.

Nevertheless, come noon today, jailers across Kentucky - including Hardin
County - will unlock the cells of dozens of convicted felony offenders (567
in all over the next couple of weeks) and allow them to go home. Eight
felons will walk in Hardin County. More will be released in the weeks and
months to come.

The governor says the early release is necessary to make up a $6 million
deficit in the Corrections Department budget and larger deficits across
state government. Some of the savings would come from the $28.76 Kentucky
spends every day to house each inmate in county jails. Patton planned other
public events this week to dramatize cuts he says are necessary to balance
the budget.

The releases will hit county budgets hard because they depend on the state
funds to operate their jails. Many have expanded their jails at Frankfort's
urging to handle more prisoners for the state. One alternative suggested
would be to transfer some of the state's prisoners from private-run jails
to the county facilities.

Even the governor admits releasing felons carries some danger. Such extreme
action might not have to be considered if the General Assembly had
performed its most basic legislative duty earlier this year - passing a
budget. The state has been operating on a budget this year which basically
continues spending priorities from last year. With each government job cut,
threat to education finances or other radical cost-cutting ideas, it
becomes more and more apparent how seriously the lawmakers' petty bickering
and stalemate over gubernatorial elections will hurt the people they serve.

If the governor is just trying to turn up the pressure on lawmakers to
raise taxes when they gather in Frankfort next month, or to justify
expanding gambling to include casinos, he is playing a cynical, dangerous
game that could cost taxpayers more money in the long run.

The danger now is that Kentuckians have no reassurances that letting
criminals back into communities poses no added threats to public safety.
Granted, many of the inmates were convicted of offenses considered at or
near the bottom tier of the felony scale.

But considering the rising rates of recidivism, who is to say those drug
dealers won't be back on the corner peddling dope, deadbeat dads won't keep
failing to pay child support or burglars won't be looking for the next hit?
No one.

All we have is contradiction: Do the crime, and, depending on the state's
financial shape, you might only do some of the time.

"It's not going to be pretty, no matter how we do it," the governor said
Monday of his efforts to find ways to slow spending.

He's right. The only thing pretty about letting out criminals is that it's
pretty ridiculous.