ANOTHER VIEW: JAIL OVERCROWDING NEEDS IMMEDIATE ATTENTION IN STATE

Tough sentencing policies aimed at getting criminals off the streets and
keeping them behind bars have begun to turn the tide against crime. Many
local jails, however, are overcrowded and outdated. With the inmate
population continuing to swell, the situation is becoming a critical concern.

Tennessee's inmate population will increase 30 percent in the next decade,
according to the "Future Felon Population" report released by the Tennessee
Department of Correction. Such an increase would leave nearly 5,000 inmates
without beds unless new prisons are built or present facilities expanded.

According to the report, there was a 2.1 percent rise in the number of
state prisoners during the past fiscal year -- from 22,634 to 23,120. For
the next decade, the report predicts, the average annual increase is
projected to be 2.6 percent.

There are 21,591 men and 1,471 women incarcerated in state prisons. But
that number doesn't count the hundreds more serving time in local jails.
State law says those prisoners are supposed to be sent to state-run
facilities within two weeks of their sentencing. But Tennessee's
penny-pinching lawmakers haven't exactly been keen on paying the freight
for the laws they pass.

The report ought to be a wake-up call for the state's lawmakers. In recent
years, it's grown increasingly clear they are more interested in passing
popular laws that promise to lock criminals away than in adequately funding
the state prison system.

If state lawmakers don't soon find the money to address Tennessee's growing
prison population, the only option is to release murderers, rapists and
thieves on an accelerated basis to free up space for the next batch.

This is an issue that cannot wait for the recession to end. It needs
attention from the governor and the legislature. And it needs it now.