STATE MUST TAKE ACTION NOW TO FIX PRISON WOES

A familiar nursery rhyme tells of the Old Woman Who Lived in A Shoe, who
"had so many children she didn't know what to do."

West Virginia's Steve Canterbury reminds us a bit of that old woman. But,
where the old rhyme has brought smiles to the faces of generations of
youngsters, there's nothing funny about Canterbury's plight.

As director of the state's Regional Jail and Correctional Facility
Authority, Canterbury presides over a prison system that's overflowing with
inmates.

On Tuesday, he told an interim legislative committee that West Virginia's
prisons, already overcrowded, could reach a breaking point by 2010. At that
point, he warned, the federal courts might well step in, place the prisons
under receivership and order a mass release of inmates.

Clearly, state government must find a way to prevent that from happening.

Paroling more prisoners isn't an option, State Parole Board Chairman Doug
Stump told the committee, as West Virginia already has one of the most
generous parole systems in the nation.

And, while the state may have to build more prison beds, that alone won't
resolve the problem. As Canterbury said Tuesday, "We cannot spend enough
money to build our way out of this."

The key surely lies in reducing the number of defendants sent to prison.
Most individuals sentenced for nonviolent crimes don't belong behind bars.
Both they and the state would benefit by expanded use of probation, home
confinement and other alternative sentencing methods.

Otherwise, the day may not be far off when the federal courts, not state
government, will be running West Virginia's prisons.