NEEDED LOOK AT PRISON ALTERNATIVES

With the prison system at capacity, the governor's office and the
Department of Corrections are taking a needed look at alternative
sentencing for nonviolent offenders. Those incarcerated for bad checks
or a failure to pay child support, for example, would do better making
restitution or supporting their children, if acceptable alternatives
to sitting in a prison cell can be made available. Nearly 50 percent
of the state's 23,500 prison inmates are guilty of nonviolent
offenses, including drug use and possession. Alternative sentencing,
such as electronic monitoring, could allow them to be punished outside
of prison, without compromising public safety. It could be done more
cheaply, defraying some of the $72 million in cuts sustained by the
Department of Corrections in the last three years.

Of course, questions about the dependability of electronic monitoring
that have been raised locally should be answered before its broader
application is considered.

The state Legislature has taken strong measures to deal with violent
offenders in recent years, primarily to ensure that they stay behind
bars for most of their sentences. Protecting the state from violent
offenders is properly the primary focus of the state criminal justice
system and the Department of Corrections.

No questions, the state should be willing to bear the considerable
expense of paying to keep violent offenders securely behind bars. But
the same standard of security needn't apply to nonviolent offenders.

The Department of Corrections has undertaken cost-cutting measures
aimed at streamlining its operation and in recognition of the state's
dire budget problems. An acceptable way of reducing the prison
population would provide for major savings, in view of the large
percentage of offenders who could qualify.

Corrections Director Jon Ozmint suggested, in remarks to The
Greenville News, that one option could be to give nonviolent felons "a
taste of prison and then allowing them, on the back end, to have the
opportunity to get out and be on electronic monitoring." He envisions
alternative programs for nonviolent offenders with no history of
violent offenses.

The prison population has increased by about 5 percent a year, and the
Department of Corrections is having a difficult time finding beds for
inmates. An acceptable method of alternative sentencing wouldn't
simply turn inmates out in the street, but would punish them short of
being a full-time prisoner. Alternative sentencing is worth exploring
to save the state money, provide for financial restitution and make
overcrowded prisons more manageable.