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| Ark. Prisons Filling Up with Meth-Makers |
| By Baxter Bulletin |
| Published: 06/27/2003 |
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Inmates convicted of methamphetamine-related drug charges are stacking up in Arkansas prisons. And a strict, new sentencing law for methamphetamine-category convictions that requires the convict to serve no less than 70 percent of sentences given by the courts has put nearly 600 meth dealers in prison with sentences that run an average of seven years longer than those being served by non-meth drug offenders, according to Larry Norris, director of the Arkansas Department of Correction. If the methamphetamine phenomenon continues to increase, Arkansans will have to reckon with the costs of keeping such convicts, Norris said. Today, the cost of detaining some 576 inmates in prison on meth-related convictions is an estimated $50 million over the nine-year sentence average. Norris isn't whining. The state Legislature in April found about $53 million in new revenue for the Department of Correction's 2004-05 biennial budget to finish the $406-million budget for those two years. The prison system was competing for funds directly with Medicaid interests and, indirectly, with public education. Still, the public should know that the impact of the methamphetamine phenomenon does not end when those convicted are carted off to state prison, Norris said. The costs continue. The average stay of the first-time meth dealer is nine years, compared to two years for the cocaine convict. Norris' remedy is a philosophical one: 'We need to be locking up the people we're afraid of, not just the people we're mad at,' he says. Often the two issues overlap. Meth dealers and addicts are often people to be afraid of, and the messes created for property owners where meth labs operate are certainly issues that should make the public mad, Norris said. Until society figures out another way to deal with the problems, the cost of keeping the convicts will go up and up, Norris said. The problem created for the Department of Correction is simple math -- almost 600 meth inmates stay an average of 7 years longer than other drug offenders. Norris said those 576 inmates represent a prison population equal to nearly half of the 1,200 inmates that were backed up in county jails just a few weeks ago. The problem is compounded by an annual prisoner population growth rate of about 500. The new money will open about 500 new units in regular prison. |
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