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| Conn. Gov. Urges Lawmakers to Send 1,000 More Prisoners to Virginia |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 04/14/2003 |
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Gov. John G. Rowland told Connecticut lawmakers last week that the state should ease prison crowding by sending 1,000 more inmates out of state and changing sentencing guidelines for nonviolent offenders. Rowland recommended the plan at an informational hearing sponsored by the legislature's Appropriations and Judiciary committees. Lawmakers are considering a group of proposals this year to reduce the number of people returning to prison, in part to help ex-convicts make a successful return to society and save the state money. State Reps. Michael Lawlor, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and William Dyson, co-chairman of the Appropriations Committee, have led an effort to look at why people return to prison and what can be done to help them. Lawmakers are considering changing the state's mandatory sentencing guidelines for drug offenders, increasing the number of probation officers, placing nonviolent drug offenders in rehabilitation facilities rather than prison and allowing some inmates to be released early. Rowland said April 3 that he has been meeting with Dyson, Lawlor and other lawmakers to discuss prison crowding, and that the state should consider and discuss the sentencing guidelines and other possible changes. ''We know it's more than a financial overcrowding issue,'' Rowland said. ''It's also giving these people a second opportunity.'' About 500 Connecticut prisoners are housed in Virginia, only a small percentage of the state's 20,000 inmates. The program is controversial opponents say it keeps prisoners too far away from their families and supporters say it costs less than building new prisons. Some Democrats, including Lawlor and Dyson, have said they will oppose Rowland's plan to send more inmates out of state. House Speaker Moira Lyons said she would prefer not to sent more prisoners to Virginia, but did not say she would oppose the proposal. New Correction Commissioner Theresa Lantz told lawmakers she thought the proposals were made with good intentions, but that she could not support any proposal that would cause a mass release of offenders into the community. Public safety must be the primary concern of the state, Lantz said. ''We need to strike a balance that provides resources to offenders but also ensures the offender does not pose a threat to the community,'' she said. |
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