PRISONS SET GOVERNOR CANDIDATES APART

Dems Differ On State's Huge Empire

One of the easiest ways to distinguish between the three seemingly
identical Democrats running for governor is on the issue of state prisons.

The three - Attorney General Jim Doyle, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk
and U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett - run the philosophical gamut.

Doyle, the state's top law enforcement officer, claims that everyone in
prison belongs there.

Falk, who points to her own experience in overseeing a county jail for the
past five years, wants to release nonviolent prisoners and place those with
drug-or alcohol-abuse problems in treatment programs.

Barrett, meanwhile, says he wants to "review" the state's prison policies
and bring back the nearly 3,500 Wisconsin inmates housed in out-of-state
prisons.

How the candidates respond to the prison problem will have a major impact
on the state's financial future. During the past decade, prisons have been
one of the fastest-growing items in the state budget.

Spurred by the massive growth in the prison population - which rose from
roughly 8,500 inmates in 1992 to more than 21,000 today - the Department of
Corrections' budget for adult offenders more than tripled from $267 million
to $701 million in the same period.

Unlike other programs, which are often funded with a mix of state and
federal money, Wisconsin taxpayers pay directly to keep prisoners behind bars.

With the state facing a $2.8 billion deficit over the next two years,
rising prison costs could crowd out other priorities.

Not surprisingly, Doyle the prosecutor takes the hardest line.

During a debate in Green Bay earlier this month, Doyle defended the state's
massive growth in the prison population.

"We are in the bottom half in states in per capita imprisonment," he said,
challenging comparisons to Minnesota and other Midwestern states that have
much smaller numbers of inmates behind bars.

"We have seen the crime rates fall over the last 10 years. We have seen
much safer communities in this state. Law enforcement in this state has
done a good job. It is important that we understand the role corrections
plays in that," he said.

Doyle contends that any short-term "back door" effort to release more
inmates threatens public safety.

The only solution, he says, is to step up prevention efforts to keep youths
out of trouble and to promote education and economic development.

Doyle also supports the state's "truth in sentencing" law, which abolishes
parole and early release from prison.

"I believe people who have committed crimes, and who judges have sent to
prison, should go to prison and spend the full time that they're there," he
says.

But Doyle wants the Legislature to adopt new sentencing guidelines as part
of the truth in sentencing package.

"Judges continue to sentence criminals in the same way they did before
truth in sentencing," Doyle says in his "Public Safety and Security Plan."

"The result is that the prison population continues to explode," he adds,
noting that the Department of Corrections has estimated the initial cost of
the new, longer truth in sentencing terms will be $26 million.

Falk argues that growing prison costs will force the state to make a tough
choice: "Either we spend billions in new dollars to house an ever-expanding
population of long-term prisoners, or develop and invest in solutions that
keep people from ever entering the system."

Falk proposes many of the same programs she has championed as county
executive - more aggressive child protection efforts, delinquency
prevention, and education, which she contrasts to the state's current "fail
'em and jail 'em" approach.

She also wants to drastically reduce the number of inmates behind bars by
offering alternatives to incarceration, such as community-based treatment
programs.

According to the Legislative Audit Bureau, nearly one-third of the inmates
now entering the prison system are in for terms of two years or less; many
are in for drug-or alcohol-related crimes or nonviolent offenses.

Falk maintains it's far more cost-effective to keep these inmates out of
prison altogether. If the state could avoid imprisoning just one-third of
the 7,500 new inmates it gets every year, it could save $93 million over
three years and $318 million over eight years, she estimates.

"Just as important, these offenders would be held accountable and pay their
debt to society, while still being able to work and contribute to their
families," she says. That, in turn, would potentially reduce welfare and
child care costs the state would have to pay.

Falk also supports the creation of courts dedicated to handling drug
offenses, much as Dane County has done. She estimates the program could
save another $104 million over four years.

She bristled recently when Doyle said that under her proposal, "you would
have to let out robbers and drug dealers from jail."

She responded, "I talk about nonviolent offenders with drug and alcohol
problems. And I would do, at a state level, what I've done in running a
county and moving people out in a way that reduces their problems, so they
don't re-offend. It works. And it's real money."

There is one point on which she agrees with Doyle: Criminal penalties must
be adjusted to reflect the longer terms that inmates serve behind bars
under truth in sentencing.

Barrett emphasizes bringing Wisconsin 3,500 inmates back from out-of-state
prisons. He contends the placements are a financial drain because of the
loss of state jobs.

What's just as bad, he says, are that the inmates who are being sent away
tend to be model prisoners: healthy, nonviolent, who have few discipline
problems.

Barrett says the out-state inmates could return if the state released
nonviolent and drug offenders who are now serving time here.

"We have to look at the current population and see who should be there and
who can be dealt with less expensively," he says, adding that under truth
in sentencing, "we've locked up a lot more people for a lot longer time."

Barrett says he has no targets as to how many inmates could be shifted into
treatment programs, but he says the program could be funded with the
roughly $50 million the state now spends annually on out-of-state prisons.