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Posted by: kwflatbed

Thursday, March 13, 2008

By Cynthia Needham

Journal State House Bureau

Inmates in the Spectrum Drug Treatment program at the ACI applaud a fellow inmate who has just spoken during the class. If an inmate completes the program, he gets 18 good-time days, 3 per month, removed from his sentence.

The Providence Journal / Mary Murphy



PROVIDENCE — When the steady rise in population counts at Rhode Island prisons hit an all time high of 4,000 last fall, Corrections Director A.T. Wall knew the system was headed for trouble.
Prison services “at all levels” were strained and the facilities were running out of beds.
Just a few months earlier, corrections officials had obtained a court waiver allowing them to increase the number of inmates at the Adult Correctional Institutions, but still the daily census continued to rise.
“I thought, if something isn’t done now, we will soon reach the point where we trigger overcrowding provisions and emergency releases will be necessary,” Wall recalls.
Rhode Island’s Criminal Justice Oversight Commission, which monitors prison populations, had much the same fear.
The result was a sweeping proposal now making its way through the General Assembly to change, for the first time in almost 50 years, the way the state awards inmates time off their sentences for good behavior and participation in rehabilitation programs. Wall calls it “a more responsible way to moderate the effects of overcrowding than emergency releases” while encouraging better inmate behavior.
The proposed legislation was easily approved by the House Judiciary Committee last night and could be headed to the House floor for a full vote as early as next week, where it is expected to pass.
Drafted by a working group representing all three branches of government, the plan standardizes the way Rhode Island awards its time-incentive credits and brings it in line with other states across the country.
Currently, well-behaved inmates in Rhode Island can shave up to 10 days per month off their prison stays under a formula that is tied to the number of years of their sentence. An inmate doing nine years time can knock nine days per month off his or her time, while someone serving one year could trim only one day per month.
The system prohibits those serving sentences of six months or less from accruing any time off at all. With 75 percent of ACI inmates serving a sentence of one year or less, that policy excludes a large portion of the prison population from the incentive program.
Just about everyone connected to the process, from Wall to union members, acknowledges that the system is backwards. Inmates serving more time, presumably for more serious crimes, are eligible to accrue more days toward early release than low-level offenders such as shoplifters.
“This is the only state I know of in the country that does it this way,” said Washington, D.C., criminologist James Austin, who helped Rhode Island design the proposed formula.
The new policy would offer all inmates — with the exception of sexual offenders — the chance to start earning up to 10 days per month, with an additional five days a month off for participation in treatment programs.
The move is expected to reduce the prison’s overall population by an average of about 211 next year. It would also save $1 million in 2009 and an additional $22 million over the next decade — an attractive option given the state’s deficit and the recent report showing that Rhode Island spends more per inmate than any other state in the nation.
Last year alone, at least five states amended their good-time policies to cut costs and reduce overcrowding, according to a new report from the National Council of State Legislators. Nevada increased from 10 days to 20 days the amount time an inmate could earn off for good behavior; Washington began allowing low-risk inmates to trim their sentences for participation in reentry programs. Still other states boosted the time credits they award for participation in education and vocational programs, the report shows.
Prison officials here in Rhode Island say they hope the proposed changes will also reduce recidivism rates — statistics show that almost half of released inmates are back in custody within one year. If prisoners have incentives to participate in treatment or behavior-modification courses, officials believe they’ll better prepare themselves for life after prison.
But the prison guards union assails the proposal as going too far and says the Corrections Department has misled the public about what would really happen if inmates, particularly violent offenders, get out of jail early.
A well-behaved prisoner who takes a few classes and holds a job could be eligible to earn as many as 17 days per month toward early release, cutting his or her prison time in half, regardless of what crime landed them there in the first place, said Richard Ferruccio, president of the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers.
According to ACI statistics, almost a third of the inmates serving sentences less than 10 years — those eligible for the new policy — are incarcerated for violent or weapons-related offenses.
Combining that figure with high recidivism rates will create a revolving door at the state’s prisons, the union president predicts. As evidence of that, he points to 24 hours from Feb. 29 to March 1. Of the 44 new inmates who arrived at the ACI in that period, 36 of them had just left the facility weeks or even days earlier, he said.
“Ultimately, those ‘pay me later’ costs will far exceed the short-term gain,” Ferruccio said.
Politicians this week accused the union of “fear mongering” in invoking images of criminals flooding the streets.
Austin, the criminologist, cited the example of New York state, which amended its good-time laws a decade ago to allow inmates to earn time off their sentences for participating in rehabilitation programs. The result was a drop in crime rates and a lower degree of repeat prisoners, as well as a savings of $400 million, he said.
But local police departments and the state’s police chiefs association share Ferruccio’s concerns. Central Falls Police Chief Joseph P. Moran III, a former state representative, said early release programs may lead to an influx of potentially dangerous parolees back into the state’s urban areas, putting a strain on local police departments.
“If you release someone from a prison setup, they go back onto the street, and if they’re not situated with a job or housing options, it opens the door to criminal activity. Does that mean everyone’s going to do that? No. But it creates a problem in an urban setting,” Moran said.
Solangel Rodriguez, executive director of the Family Life Center, a nonprofit organization that helps reintegrate offenders into the community, said however that the lack of support is precisely why the new good-time proposal is so important. Offering incentives for inmates to partake of rehabilitation classes “really gives them a leg up,” when they return home, Rodriguez said.
Corrections officials say they are addressing post-release problems by shoring up community corrections initiatives across the state. Next week they’ll meet with the police chiefs association to flesh out a plan to begin working with local police departments. They also plan to use a portion of the projected savings to add parole staff and say the bill itself includes a provision that the Parole Board evaluate an inmate’s likelihood to reoffend when considering a release.
Rep. John Patrick Shanley Jr., a former parole and probation officer and sponsor of the good-time bill, acknowledges that while not a cure-all, the proposal offers a good start by saving money and encouraging inmates to abide by the rules.
“We’re not talking about opening the prison gates and turning convicts out in the street — we’re talking about letting individuals earn time off at their sentences,” the South Kingstown Democrat said.

Prison Facts
Current Population: 3,795 *
Potential reductions: **
2009: 211
2010: 304
2011: 337
2012: 336
Savings:
$1 million in 2009
$22 million over 10 years
* As of yesterday ** Fiscal years

http://www.projo.com/news/content/GO...cd7b0.html?npc

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