FULL PRISONS' SILVER LINING: SENTENCING REFORM

With no more space for inmates and no money for new prisons, Virginia
should aggressively employ other options to incarcerating low-risk offenders.

AFTER THE prison-building boom of the 1980s and 1990s left the state with
many more cells than inmates, Virginia turned its lemons into lemonade. By
housing prisoners from other prison systems, the state took in $30 million
this year alone.

Now the situation has swung the other way. The prisons are full, and the
home-grown inmate population is projected to grow by 1,500 to 2,000 next
year. But a 12 percent budget cut this year, an additional 10 percent cut
in 2003 and a desperate need for the revenue generated by out-of-state
prisoners have left the Department of Corrections with few options for
finding more space.

Yet the ingredients for a sweet solution are again available. The demand
for prison beds rises only in part from additional rapists and murderers
and the longer sentences serious offenders now serve. A large share goes to
nonviolent offenders, including parole and probation violators who
typically return to prison for failing drug tests or missing an appointment
with a parole officer, said Dick Hickman, a Virginia Senate Finance
Committee staff budget analyst.

That indicates this would be a good time to aggressively pursue proven
options to incarceration. As Lawrence Jablecki, a reformist Texas prison
official, put it, "We now have more than enough cells to confine the people
we fear" - violent and repeat criminals. The rest - nonviolent and
self-destructive offenders who present little or no threat to public safety
- - can often be dealt with through such options as drug and alcohol
rehabilitation, home confinement and overnight detention centers.

All these options are cheaper than prison, sometimes a third as much. And
if the goal is crime reduction, they appear more effective as well. Studies
in New York, Connecticut and elsewhere attest to reduced recidivism among
convicts sentenced to alternative programs, especially substance abuse
treatment.

The potential exists to achieve exactly what legislative leaders have
called for throughout the budget crisis: better results for less money. The
budget shortfall even provides political cover for politicians who fear
being seen as soft on crime. For once they could say, "The state can't
afford this anymore," and even we would agree.

A reallocation of resources will be required, but both legislators and Gov.
Mark Warner should press for expanded use of these options.