DA EXPLAINS CAUSE OF JAIL OVERCROWDING

To The Oak Ridger:

While it is true that our jails are currently overcrowded it is not true
that "get tougher" policies are the cause.

The cause has more to do with the fact that there has been no increase in
state prison beds to keep up with population growth for over 30 years; the
overflow has been squeezed down from the state to the counties in the form
of a redefinition of felony crimes down to misdemeanors and delays in the
state taking our convicts from jail to prison, and more.

Another big segment of the increased jail population is probation violators
- -- some of whom are in jail because of technical violations (like not
reporting) and not because of any new offenses.

So, far from "getting tougher" the state made sentencing "softer" by
enacting the Criminal Code Reform Act of 1989 which quietly did away with
"Class X" and the Habitual Criminal Act, and much more -- solely to reduce
prison population.

Get out the old retrospectoscope: releasing "murderers, rapists and thieves
on an accelerated basis to free up space for the next batch" was
accomplished in 1989. More similar "squeezing down" is in the offing
because of the current state budget crisis.

Where was the sentencing outcry in 1989 when it would have done some good
for law enforcement?

James N. Ramsey

Clinton Anderson County District attorney general