INCARCERATION POLICIES EASED, 2 REPORTS SAY

Some States Closing Prisons, Expanding Drug Treatment

More than a dozen states have passed sentencing and corrections reforms
that are beginning to reverse three decades of "get tough" incarceration
policies, according to two reports scheduled for release by advocacy groups
today.

One study by the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based organization that
promotes alternatives to imprisonment, found that lawmakers in four states
either scaled back or reversed sentencing policies. It also found that five
states expanded drug treatment as a sentencing option and seven states
passed legislation to ease prison crowding.

A similar review by the Justice Policy Institute, which also opposes strict
incarceration policies, found that tight budgets have impelled governors in
Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Florida to close prisons and prompted four
other states to reduce prison populations. The report contends public
support is shifting away from imprisonment of nonviolent offenders and
toward prevention, rehabilitation and alternative sentencing.

The 1990s saw a huge increase in prison populations after the enactment of
tough sentencing laws across the United States. More than 1.9 million
people were in jails and prisons in 2000, according to a government report
released in August 2001. States spent $38 billion on corrections in the
last fiscal year, a 5.2 percent increase from the previous year, according
to the Sentencing Project's report.

"The punishment-oriented war on drugs has contributed to a record prison
population that still leaves many citizens dissatisfied with the level of
crime and drug abuse," the report said.

In California, voters overwhelmingly approved a measure last year that
would send anyone convicted of drug possession for the first or second time
to court-ordered treatment. Proposition 36 also would allow a parolee who
fails a drug test to be placed on probation and enrolled in a treatment
program.

The measure may result in 24,000 people getting treatment instead of prison
time and is expected to save the state $200 million a year, the report said.

Louisiana lawmakers passed a bill last year reducing sentences for certain
drug and nonviolent crimes and eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for
nonviolent crimes. The legislation also repeals a law that prohibits the
consideration of parole for many "low-level nonviolent offenders" and
softens the state's "three strikes" law.

Officials also have examined ways to cut prison costs while reducing crime,
the report found. Mississippi law now allows inmates to earn time toward
early release; Montana lawmakers passed a bill that diverts anyone
convicted of four or more drunk-driving offenses to residential treatment
programs; and Virginia provides early release to elderly inmates.