ALTERNATIVE SENTENCING COULD EASE BURDEN OF OVERCROWDING

More alternative sentencing through community corrections is one way
to ease the burden on West Virginia's overcrowded regional jail and
prison facilities, 1st Circuit Judge Martin J. Gaughan said Wednesday
to the state's Senate Judiciary Committee.

Gaughan joined Joe Martin, state secretary of military affairs and
public safety, in addressing the committee about capacity shortages in
state prisons and jails. Martin said if the rate of incarceration in
West Virginia stays the same, by 2010 the state will be short 2,200
prison beds. Inmate population estimates supplied by the Division of
Corrections predicts by 2005 inmate population will be 4,936, with
space available for 3,698 inmates, and 5,868 people will be
incarcerated by 2010 with only 3,698 beds available for them. Martin
said from 1993 to 2000, the state prison population grew by a rate of
252 inmates a year. He said West Virginia ranks third in the country
for prison population percentage.

With an overcrowded corrections system, the regional jails get the
"overflow" even though those facilities are not equipped for long-term
inmate housing, lacking amenities like a recreational area that state
prisons are required to have.

Gaughan told lawmakers that community corrections like the Day Report
Centers in Wheeling and Weirton could help overcrowding in the
regional jails and the prison system.

A year ago, Gaughan convinced lawmakers to appropriate $300,000 to the
establishment of a Day Report Center. A judge can sentence an offender
to community corrections through the Day Report Center, a combination
of house arrest and daily reporting to a center staffed with
counselors. Unemployed offenders sentenced to community corrections
must spend eight hours a day at the Day Report Center; offenders with
full-time jobs have weekly requirements. All Day Report Center
participants must perform community service and attend counseling
sessions. The center also requires and provides instruction for the
completion of a high school diploma, job training and basic skills
education when needed.

Gaughan said after one year and about 100 offenders, the two day
report centers have spent only half the $300,000 allotment and already
have saved the state over $200,000 in jail costs.

The program is not easy, as evinced by one participant who told him
he'd rather have gone to jail, Gaughan said, so not only does it save
money, it is an effective form of alternative sentencing.

All counties could create day report centers, but only the Northern
Panhandle has taken that step so far, most likely because county
commissions are required to provide $25,000 in start-up funds, donate
space for the center and pay the salaries of counselors and security
personnel. Next week Gaughan said he will make a formal request to the
House Finance Committee for $2.5 million to expand the day report
center program in the Northern Panhandle and make the concept more
affordable for other counties.

Much of the future prison bed shortage can be attributed to a
"stacking effect of long-term sentences for major offenders," Martin
said when Sen. Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, asked if the prisons would
benefit from alternative sentencing using options like the Day Report
Center, as Gaughan explained.

Martin said he did not want to create 2,200 additional beds, but
rather would favor a combination of some additional bed space for
inmates, more alternative sentencing and possible changes to
sentencing structure in state code.