The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

More nonviolent inmates should be on house arrest or eligible for parole to cut rising costs, the top prison official told legislators.

Epps requested a $20 million increase to bring his budget to $348 million in the fiscal year that begins next July.

"We've got a lot of people coming to prison," Epps said.

Little was said of the troubles in super-maximum security Unit 32 at the State Penitentiary at Parchman. Three inmates have been killed there since June.

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee, composed of representatives and senators, began two weeks of hearings Monday to receive budget requests from dozens of state agencies.

This is the first step in crafting a more than $5 billion general fund budget to provide services ranging from police protection to health care. The 2008 Legislature should finalize spending by spring.

"We haven't seen all the numbers yet," said Sen. Terry Burton, R-Newton. "We'll certainly have a lot of requests and a little bit of money."

Epps' reasons for rising costs are the same as in years past: medical care, fuel and more criminals to watch.

More than 50,000 people are in prison or on parole and under Epps' supervision.

His staff predicts a 4.5 percent prison population increase over the next year. More than 22,000 people were behind bars Sept. 1.

"It's safe to say corrections is just as big as junior colleges and is about to catch up to Institutions of Higher Learning, which is kind of sad," he said.

"The Parole Board only has 1,800 people to see from now until 2011, so that's a concern of mine," he said.

Epps said he wants statewide drug courts that focus on rehabilitation and are cheaper to run.

"We've got to decide who we're afraid of and who we're mad with," Epps said.

A person who attempts to run over a highway patrolman will end up in Parchman, he said.

"The guy we all see in that orange Chevrolet, the 27-inch rims on, and may have a roach in his car? Let me try the drug court," he said.

He expects costs to grow by $30 million in two years if prison population growth does not subside.

Though Unit 32 was not mentioned, it was not far from legislators' minds.

Burton said questions surrounding the Parchman facility will come when the Legislature meets in January.

"Today, it's all about the money part of it, not the problems," he said.

Lawmakers must consider guard pay and retaining experienced workers to improve conditions, he said.

House Corrections Committee Chairman Bennett Malone, D-Carthage, said he wants a 500-bed super-maximum security prison with the latest technology to house the most hardened criminals from Unit 32.

He said he is working on the cost.

"It's got to be located in a place different than Parchman, Miss., because we don't have the work force to pull from," said Malone, who is not on the budget committee but watched Epps' presentation.

"Camp 32, it can start counting its days now because they're numbered," Malone said.

After the meeting, Epps said he wants to increase guard pay by 20 percent in the unit. Some of the money would come from savings in other areas of the budget.

The privately run Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler stopped taking Mississippi prisoners because the state pays too little, Epps told lawmakers. Instead, the facility is full of prisoners from California and Hawaii, two states that pay higher rates.

Money used for that contract could boost pay at Parchman, he said.

To comment on this story, call Laura Hipp at (601) 961-7077.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070918/NEWS/709180
366/1001