The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

"I enjoy helping the plants grow," said Michael Goesmann. "It gives me peace."

He could use it. Goesmann, 54, served 15 months for a drug offense and said he'd been an addict for years. He was released from the prison in St. Joseph, Mo., in March and wasn't ready for the outside world.

On Tuesday, he was one of 23 men and five women assigned to the Farmington Community Supervision Center, which opened in January 2006 ‹ the first of two such centers in Missouri. The state plans to open five more in hopes of keeping stumbling offenders away from prison's revolving door.

Such stumbles have fed a decade of explosive inmate growth that required the state to double its number of prison beds. But thanks to alternatives, officials say, Missouri is leading the nation in reducing its inmate population.

In the year that ended June 30, 2006, the number of people behind bars in Missouri declined by nearly 3 percent, the largest percentage in any state.

Only eight states reported a decline, according to the Department of Justice. Illinois reported an increase of 1.7 percent.

When Gov. Matt Blunt took office in January 2005, Missouri's prison population was growing by about two a day, said Commissioner of Administration Mike Keathley. At that rate, the state would have had to build a new prison every two years.

Missouri officials point to the community supervision centers as one key factor in the state's decline in inmates.

"For the best public safety, you need to reserve the beds for the most dangerous and violent," said Larry Crawford, director of the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Crawford said the state also provides a special "re-entry" program for inmates leaving prison. They live in transitional housing units, learn how to write a résumé and get a state-issued nondrivers identification card needed for everything from applying for jobs to renting a movie.

"It's all about making people successful," Crawford said.

Rep. Danie Moore, R-Fulton, stresses the taxpayer benefit of the supervision centers. She heads the House committee that oversees the $624 million operating budget of the Corrections Department.

The system now holds 29,901 inmates. Each prisoner costs the state $39.43 a day or $14,392 a year.

'DRAMATIC' CHANGE

The community centers were an outgrowth of an effort to revamp how criminals are sentenced.

Today, new reports prepared for judges analyze whether a community-oriented program is likely to keep an offender from committing more crimes. Sentencing recommendations emphasize alternatives to prison for nonviolent felonies.

Since probation officers began issuing the new sentencing reports in November 2005, Missouri's prison population has dropped by nearly 700 inmates. By contrast, the number of inmates grew by 850 in the preceding fiscal year.

David Valentine, a senior analyst at the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri-Columbia, called the turnaround "dramatic."

"Missouri is on the beginning edge of what should be a long-term, downward trend," said Valentine, former director of research for the Missouri Senate.

The state's approach has been crafted quietly the past two years by a team led by Supreme Court Judge Mike Wolff. He heads the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission, which developed the format for the "sentencing assessment reports."

The commission also developed a simple-to-use application on its website ‹ www.mosac.mo.gov ‹ that allows judges to get suggested sentences from their computers. The program recommends probation, prison time or an alternative sentence based on information such as the offender's age, work history and education, as well as his criminal history.

Wolff said the reports give judges crucial information. For example, if the probation officer recommends drug treatment, the report spells out the date when a treatment bed will be available.

Prosecutors say they see the logic in reserving prison space for the most violent criminals. But they say the new sentencing recommendations are based on average sentences for a particular offense and fail to take into account how crimes differ.

Using averages "is just not a good way to decide who should be going to prison," said St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch. "We don't need judges if that's the way they do it."

Under the new system, felons are assigned a "risk class" ranging from "good" to "poor." The sentencing reports no longer include a detailed narrative about the offender's family background, education and crime.

"The new version is more of a cookie-cutter justice, as opposed to a thorough background investigation," said Cape Girardeau Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle.

Prosecutors also say the increase in the state's inmate popu lation was a natural outgrowth of the passage in 1994 of legislation dubbed "truth in sentencing."

Under the law, people convicted of any of seven major crimes ‹ second-degree murder, rape, sodomy, kidnapping, first-degree assault, arson and first-degree robbery ‹ must serve 85 percent of their prison sentence. Before the law, inmates were often paroled after serving half or a third or even less of their sentence.

During the administration of former Gov. Mel Carnahan, the state built five prisons. From 1994 to 2004, Missouri's inmate population doubled, from 14,000 to 30,000.

To help provide more sentencing options, Missouri opened the community supervision centers in Farmington and St. Joseph. Five more are planned or under construction ‹ in Hannibal, Kennett, Poplar Bluff, Kansas City and Fulton.

At the centers, nonviolent offenders can get drug treatment, attend employment workshops or earn a high school diploma by passing a GED test.

"It's a pretty intensive intervention," said Laura Hibbs, district administrator for probation and parole in St. Joseph. "Our goal is to get them turned around fairly quickly," generally in 30 to 60 days.

The centers differ from traditional halfway houses, which are transition points from prison to parole. Supervision centers generally are for those already on parole after time served or offenders who get probation, a sentence that usually doesn't include prison time as long as conditions are met.

Goesmann works at a local garden center and gets to see his adult son, daughter and seven grandchildren, all of whom live in the area. He plans to move into an apartment in nearby Park Hills in about a week.

"This has given me time to move back into society," he said.

District administrator Shelly Crump said most of the center's residents had committed drug-related offenses and, while free, abused drugs again. Those who relapse with more serious offenses usually don't get the deal.

Crump oversees 1,300 probationers and parolees in St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve and Madison counties. Her staff of 47 works from the supervision center, a one-story brick building with a sloping green roof and no fence or window bars.

Inside are living quarters for as many as 40 men and six women. In the men's ward, beds are separated by partitions 4 feet high. The women share a small, open room. Residents stay from one to four months.

They relax and eat in a multipurpose room, with food from the Farmington Correctional Center across the road. There are classrooms for GED, drug counseling and other courses.

Ross Downey, who runs the center, said most residents have jobs outside and can leave for approved visits. They could sneak away, but their ankle bracelets would trip an electronic perimeter outside. With privileges at stake, they don't run, he said.

"This place allows for consequences short of going to prison," Downey said. "We don't make choirboys here, but if we can get them back into productive lives, they and the state are much better off."

Matthew Hathaway of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
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