Prison director pushes for alternative sentences

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By Associated Press

Published: 01/05/2004

S.C. Corrections Director Jon Ozmint says his agency needs alternatives to prison for some nonviolent offenders and greater flexibility on cutting inmate's sentences for good behavior.
The alternatives are needed in part because lawmakers will not keep giving the prison system more money even though South Carolina finished 2003 with 1,100 more inmates than the year before, Ozmint said.
On behalf of Ozmint, House Speaker David Wilkins and three other lawmakers have prefiled a bill that would allow nonviolent offenders serving less than five years in prison to be eligible for programs like house arrest, electronic monitoring or daily supervision.
In an opinion article published Dec. 27 in The (Columbia) State, Ozmint said alternative sentences have been successful in new drug courts across the state.
"This would be an entirely new idea in sentencing, giving offenders a 'real prison' experience first, while offering an opportunity to advance to an alternate form of incarceration," Ozmint wrote.
Ozmint decided on the proposal after considering what lawmakers would accept in this session. "This is just the first step," Ozmint told The Associated Press last Friday.
Other ideas Ozmint set aside for now include reducing sentences for nonviolent inmates who get their high school diplomas and releasing inmates at their last parole hearing before their sentence ends instead of waiting months for them to "max out."
The current proposal would expand good behavior credits that can shorten sentences to more inmates, while giving prison administrators more power to issue or take away the credits.
Violent offenders, which make up about half of all inmates, would not be eligible for the alternative sentences, and the new time for good behavior policy would not effect anyone serving a life sentence.
The Corrections Department will end this year with more than 24,000 inmates - an increase of 2,500 prisoners in three years - and requires a budget of close to $300 million, Ozmint wrote.
The agency ran a $21 million deficit last fiscal year and has lost more than $70 million in funding since the state's budget woes began about four years ago.
On one side, the budget constraints have made South Carolina prisons the second-most efficient in the nation, spending about $12,300 per inmate per year. On the other side, Ozmint and his predecessors have slashed so much the director has said there is almost nothing left to cut.
The proposals reverse a get-tough trend in South Carolina of harsher sentences.

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