State lawmakers got their first look today at a brewing crisis in the Correction Department as projections indicate the state will not be able to build its way out of a surge in the inmate population over the decade.
The large print in the report delivered to lawmakers said it all: "The State faces a serious prison bed shortage in the next year, and a huge deficit in the long term," Dan Kane reports.
They learned:
* They can not build or expand space fast enough to house the roughly 2,300 additional inmates expected to arrive by the end of the next fiscal year;
* Counties do not have enough jail cells to house the projected backlog; and
* That adopting some sentence-reduction suggestions that have been offered in recent years also may not slow the growth soon enough.
More after the jump.
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Lawmakers offered other suggestions.
Rep. Carolyn Justus, a Hendersonville Republican, asked if more inmates could be double-bunked, a measure that worries prison officials because they see it as a security risk. They said they would see where in the system that could be done safely.
Rep. Alice Bordsen, a Mebane Democrat, and Sen. Joe Sam Queen, a Waynesville Democrat, suggested lawmakers look more closely at programs that reduce recidivism and minimize probation revocations. Those programs would come at a price, but would not be as expensive as the estimated $150 million that lawmakers would have to authorize this year to build and expand prisons to meet the demand over the next decade.
Rep. Arthur Williams, a Washington Democrat, suggested the simplest solution was to move away from structured sentences that do not allow for parole, and have the parole board review cases and release inmates.
"It does seem to me like we've got to go back to the parole board to solve the problem because we obviously don't have the money," he said.
There are roughly 40,000 inmates in the state's 79 prisons. The state is expected to add nearly 10,000 inmates by the end of the 2018 fiscal year.
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Re: Lawmakers consider prison problems
The people need to make up their minds. One pretty white girl gets murdered by a probationer, and Parole and Probation gets all kind of horrible press. Forget the lack of mention of all the other victims before and after. Everyone thinks the system just broke, and it’s been limping for years. And now what’s the logic? Why, let the criminals out of prison earlier. It’s as plain as all that. So simple.
All we have to do is give them a program in their short prison sentence, and talk them out of being criminals. Now they are safe for release, I guess. Double bunking? Sure, why not. We are so short handed now it's ridiculous, give us more inmates. Maybe we'll find some good ones, and we can just put in them in charge.
By the way, AMEN to clearing out Death Row.