The state's judicial system should increase its reliance on community-based programs and aim to shorten prison stays to reduce the state's growing prison population, according to a state report.
The report, which is likely to face stiff political opposition, suggests switching priorities away from constructing more prisons to ease crowding.
Analyst Renee LaMark Muir presented the report to the legislative program review and investigations committee recently. Developed by committee staff, it also suggests the use of more treatment programs, greater use of parole and probation, a review of sentencing guidelines and more discretion for judges.
Muir said the plan would save the state money.
If enacted, the proposals would reverse a trend toward longer sentences. The report comes even as correction officials are seeking to add 1,600 beds to the prison system that now houses about 16,000 inmates. The additional cells would cost $200 million and add $56 million to the department's $500 million annual operating budget.
Correction officials and some legislators said that the report could jeopardize public safety.
State Rep. Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield, said he was generally opposed to the 'diversionary tactics' suggested in the report. State Sen. Winthrop Smith Jr., R-Milford, implied that the report appeared to be too lenient on criminals.
Committee members will begin to go over the 21 recommendations in the plan this week. They must decide which proposals to recommend for approval to the full legislature.
Christina Polce, a spokeswoman for the correction department, said the recommendations regarding the use of more community-based programs should be looked at positively.
Housing someone in prison costs $35,000 a year while a community-based residential bed costs the state about $20,000 annually, the report said. And, according to the report, about 80 percent of Connecticut's inmates are in need of substance abuse treatment. Getting them proper treatment would reduce the number of inmates who return to prison.
Polce said her agency supports treatment, but was concerned with provisions in the report that call for the legislature to mandate the early release of prisoners. She said she fears that the plan would result in dangerous prisoners being freed.
The plan calls for most inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes to be paroled after serving 75 percent of their sentences. Inmates convicted of violent crimes would serve 85 percent of their sentences. Newly enacted truth-in-sentencing guidelines have resulted in fewer paroles in recent years.
Aside from lowering the inmate population, Muir said, early parole would give officials more time to monitor how inmates adapt to life in their community.
'More states are tending to rely more on parole as they adopt the community model,' Muir said.
Prisoners' rights activists praised the plan.