Richmond Times-Dispatch from Richmond, Virginia • 9

Richmond Time Dispatch Wudnesday Apnl 20 1994 A9 NEW PROPOSALS CURRENT SYSTEM Parole ipanel outlines proposals Voluntary guidelines Parala Discretionary and mandatory Arerag that served 21 percent to 47 percent of sentences Mandatofy guidelines Parole Abolished Average tint served 75 percent to 100 percent of sentences i NooviotMt wffwsrfww Housod In "Good Um redacUeas Offenders on average seme 85 percent of sentences freMei Hire more officers to reduce caseloads Held in same prisons at same cost as violent criminals fGeed thae" radscHeas Offenders on average serve 30 percent of sentences rrOMVMI Officers supervise 68 offenders on average Polo and Mockneck T-SHIRTS for COMPARE AT $17 each Cotton Elastic Waist SHORTS for COMPARE AT $13 each PAROLE FROM PAGE A1 tion nf parole and the imposition of mandatory sentencing guidelines Jury sentencing would be kept under the proposal though Virginia is only one of seven states where it is still ckmc Richard Cullen a former US attorney and the commission's other co-chairman said that "while we are committed to a mandatory system of guidelines we also will have built-in The biggest economic and perhaps political challenge appears to be finding less expensive alternatives to traditional prison for nonviolent offenders Roughly half the 20 (XX) inmates arc serving time for nonviolent offenses but 85 percent of that number are drug offenders During the 1980s it was the drug offenders most of whom arc in prison for possession of drugs with the intent to distribute or for drug distribution whom the public and elected leaders wanted kicked up Now as demonstrated in landslide victory last November the public is fed up with violent and repeat offenders to the point of wanting to see parole ended and so-called in put in practice But if the experiences of other states are a guide the biggest obstacle presented will be finding the money to pay for it "Proposal as the Barr-Cullcn commission calls it recommends that nonviolent offenders be housed "in cost-efficient secure facilities with jobwork Many will help pay for the costs of the Incarceration freeing up space and $2(X) million a year for three years accounting for some 70 percent of the entire debt capacity said Hickman faces a large and growing gap between the projected prison and juvenile learning center populations as best as wc can project and the amount of money available costs of public safety are going to continue to be a driving force in the suite along with education and Medicaid and "given the trends seeing today corrections will become an even greater driving said Hickman He also said that demographics show that within public safety the juvenile crime arena going to be a critical growth area of the Growth in serious juvenile crime is projected to rise by 114 percent from 1992 to 'M)2 But paying fur any new prisons that might be needed may not be the most difficult task Hickman said a lot easier for us to finance a prison Ilian it is to find locations where we can staff them and that are politically Among other things the commission got a report on changes made in Texas where from 1992 to 1996 the state is expected to double its inmate capacity to 146000 and dedicate 12000 beds to substance abuse treatment IBONUSISREGmlS resources needed to incarcerate more dangerous offenders Some nonviolent felons will not go to prison at all but Cullen said "We want to be careful because we're obviously expanding risk any time we divert someone who has historically been imprisoned "This ladies and gentlemen of the commission is our greatest challenge if wc are going to radically restructure the way wc treat convicted felons and violent felons in said Cullen Dick Hickman deputy staff director for the Senate Finance Committee told the commission members their task is to balance your sentencing objectives with the available Hickman warned that going to need some careful planning and some tough management over the next several months to prevent serious problems in the near Even without the current push to toughen up on criminals the rate of incarceration has almost tripled since 1975 From 1983 to 1993 the corrections budget has grown 120 percent from $134 million to $296 million The General Assembly has already authorized construction of nine new prisons with more than 7(MX) beds since 1990 to meet the needs of the projected prison population by 1996 But it will not be enough Unless things are changed the way things are operating now with parole which Allen says has been too lenient acting in part as a safety valve could require 10 more prisons to meet state needs by 1999 To build those prisons would cost SILK N0ILE T-SHIRTS COMPARE AT $30 each FAMOUS MAKER ROMPERS $1099 COMPARE AT $50 2J25 NOBODY SELLS FASHION FOR LESS! 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