PRISONS

FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE BETWEEN PUBLIC SPENDING AND PUBLIC SAFETY

At the rate West Virginia's criminal element is going, the state will
need another 2,200 prison beds by the end of the decade, says Public
Safety Secretary Joe Martin.

The state can't afford that, Martin told the House Judiciary
Committee.

He recommends the state build some additional beds, "update" its
"sentencing structure," and further develop programs like "alternative
sentencing" and "community corrections."

Which sounds a lot like leaving 2,200 people who committed criminal
offenses at liberty among the general population. Which could wind up
solving the state's math problem at the expense of public safety.

Nobody intends such nefariousness, of course. Budgetary problems are
real. There is a limit to how much prison space West Virginians are
able or willing to pay for.

There is also a limit to how much violence and mayhem they're willing
to put up with.

State leaders have to solve their math problem with both concerns in
mind.

Gov. Wise's budget says the state has about 3,300 inmates. In
December, the Division of Corrections was over capacity by 257 inmates
- -- and had an additional 629 inmates stashed in jails all over the
state.

Obviously, the Division of Corrections does have a
problem.

Martin suggests the state solve it by incarcerating fewer people. He
says West Virginia is glaringly different from other states in its
penalty for certain crimes. He declined to say who shouldn't be locked
up, but drunken driving has been discussed in the past.

But jail time and prison terms for drunken driving were the reforms of
yesterday -- reforms welcomed by a public sick of horrendous accidents
and heartbreak. The public will not favor backing away from those
reforms if it means more horrendous accidents.

To keep things in context, Governing magazine shows West Virginia as
49th in per capita spending on corrections as of 1999.

Furthermore, West Virginia is 45th among the states in incarceration
rate. The U.S. average is 476 inmates per 100,000 population. West
Virginia locks up 196 lawbreakers for every 100,000 persons.

We're not exactly running a police state here.

Nobody wants to spend money on prisons. Everybody would rather fund,
oh, teachers' raises or $4 billion worth of pensions or employee
health care or Medicaid or family courts or tax cuts.

But everybody has his own hot-button issue, and to the public, public
safety matters.

In trying to find the right balance between public spending and public
safety, state officials should discuss the tradeoffs openly -- with
the people who have to pay, either way.