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| State incarceration costs run too high |
| By hattiesburgamerican.com - The Clarion-Ledger |
| Published: 10/15/2012 |
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Mississippi -- Along with an array of other money-related problems facing the state, a looming prison crisis was outlined for legislators last week by Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps. What Epps told lawmakers essentially was that there are too many inmates in the system being locked up for too long, and a lack of clarity over sentencing, or, more specifically, truth in sentencing. Mississippi ranks near the top nationally in per capita incarceration, length of sentences and time served. MDOC was budgeted for $339 million this year but will need $30 million morefrom the Legislature. “I see trouble down the road,” Epps said at a joint hearing of state House committees on corrections and the judiciary on possible ways to reduce the cost of incarceration. Epps said house arrest and monitoring for nonviolent offenders could save the state money over the cost keeping someone in prison. He pointed out such a person could work, support their family and pay restitution. But judges and prosecutors feel the heat from crime victims and their families if sentences are meaningless. “People I talk with tell me it looks like we’re running a catch-and-release program,” Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon told lawmakers. Epps, judges and prosecutors want the Legislature to provide guidance. Mississippi’s so-called “truth in sentencing law” passed in 1995 was one of the nation’s toughest, requiring inmates to serve 85 percent of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole. But fiscal realities gradually have forced the pendulum to start swinging back the other way. New laws and rules give inmates opportunities to cut their sentences short. They also put district attorneys and judges in the position of not knowing if sentences mean what they say. Read More. |
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