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| Inmate Releases Possible Despite Utah Budget Reprieve |
| By Salt Lake Tribune |
| Published: 01/20/2003 |
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State budget woes may still result in the early release of some nonviolent prison inmates despite the funding Gov. Mike Leavitt restored to the state Department of Corrections this past weekend. 'We have committed to both the governor and the legislative leadership that we will look at the current population and tell them by the end of the month how many low-risk offenders we would feel comfortable letting out,' Mike Sibbett, chairman of the Board of Pardons and Parole, told The Salt Lake Tribune on Monday. The five-member board will review more than 2,000 inmate files before reporting to the state Legislature early in the session, which starts Jan. 20, Sibbett said at a conference sponsored by the American Probation and Parole Association. Leavitt restored about $3.5 million to the department that the Legislature cut during a special session last month in an attempt to balance the budget. Mike Chabries, executive director of the Corrections Department, said then if the cuts remained, he would be forced to release 400 inmates early. He told the governor that the early release of 400 inmates may harm public safety, though he does think a smaller number is feasible. The Board of Pardons and the Corrections Department released 236 inmates early as a cost-cutting measure in June 2001. Since then the inmate population has declined from more than 6,000 to about 5,540, leaving a smaller number of nonviolent offenders. Correction officials say a budget cut is still likely as lawmakers must find a way to trim $7.8 million from state coffers recently restored by Leavitt during the upcoming session. |
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