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| Address Prison, Jail Overcrowding |
| By news-register.net |
| Published: 04/20/2011 |
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Gubernatorial elections this year in West Virginia are important for many reasons. It is critical that our state find excellent leadership to cope with a full plate of challenges for the future. One of them is prison overcrowding. A report from the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety this week is a reminder of how difficult that one will be to solve. State Division of Corrections facilities, including prisons and regional jails, held 6,681 inmates at the end of last year, according to the report. That was up from 3,970 prisoners just a decade ago. Within five years, space for 8,251 prisoners will be needed - and the demand will not slack off after that, the division estimates. By 2020, 9,732 inmates will require secure housing. State corrections facilities already are overcrowded. Various programs including drug courts and day report centers have been devised to keep some non-violent offenders out of the system, but they have not been enough. Construction of new prisons is not an appealing alternative because of the enormous cost of building and operating facilities that meet federal requirements. That brings up another concern: How much overcrowding will be tolerated by federal courts? Judges deciding lawsuits by inmates who claim they are being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment don't care how states remedy prison overcrowding - they just order that it be done. Read More. |
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