The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Jun. 09, 2008

"The prison population has grown to the point that it's getting close to costing half a billion" dollars, said Charles Geveden, deputy secretary of the state's Justice and Public Safety Cabinet. "We need to look at that, but the thing we don't want to sacrifice is the protection of the public, and we won't sacrifice that."

The Department of Corrections' budget is $424.5 million for fiscal 2009, which begins July 1, and $440.4 million the next year. That includes nearly $525 million in state funds over the next two years for adult prisons.

A study released earlier this year by the Pew Center on the States found that Kentucky has experienced the nation's largest prison population increase -- it grew by 12 percent to 22,400 inmates. That number could reach 31,000 within 10 years.

Beshear and state lawmakers have looked for ways to reduce those numbers. The General Assembly included language in the state budget that allows for certain Class C and Class D felons to serve parts of their sentences in home incarceration programs.

"It is time that we take a serious look at our sentencing guidelines, our penal code, and all of the related items to try to figure out ways to appropriately punish people, make sure the public is protected, and find some alternatives that are less expensive than just putting somebody in prison," Beshear said during a March interview.

Beshear has asked the Criminal Justice Council to report back with recommendations by Dec. 1. The subcommittee headed by Geveden is one of five reviewing prison issues. Others are looking at Kentucky's drug laws, the penal code, pretrial release and probation and parole.

Geveden's panel on sentencing is looking at, among other things, finding ways of reducing the number of people who re-offend. Some answers could include offering more treatment, education and job training while people are in prison, Geveden said.

Kentucky Public Advocate Ernie Lewis, a member of the panel, said he's hoping the state overhauls all of its sentencing practices to rein in "out of control prison numbers." Harsher laws, longer sentences and more law enforcement has led to the state's current prison situation, Lewis said.

"Those numbers are difficult to ignore," he said. "However, I think that our culture over the last 30 years has become so harsh, and so law-and-order oriented, that I think it's very difficult for that to be changed."

Linda Tally Smith, a commonwealth's attorney in Boone and Gallatin counties, said she supports studying the issue. But, while rising prison costs should be reviewed, many citizens support harsh penalties, she said.

"Most people who you talk to on a daily basis don't understand why people who commit crimes don't get more time," Smith said.
http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/428330.html