COLUMBIA --- South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford balked Tuesday at ordering the early release of nonviolent inmates to ease a $29 million deficit at the Department of Corrections. Instead, he said there needed to be consensus among all three branches of state government before any prisoners are set free early.
The governor's comments came during the state Budget and Control Board meeting.
The panel cleared the way for the prisons agency to spend more money than it has. It's the third time in three years the prisons agency has run short of cash as budget cuts have taken a toll on its operations.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, a budget board member, told prisons director Jon Ozmint that state law already allows him to release inmates early.
"I tell you, at some point in time, we've got to come to grips with this," said Leatherman, R-Florence. He pointed out that the prison's deficit is being made up by other agencies that have also had to cut spending.
Ozmint said he didn't have the power to release inmates early.
Ozmint reports to Sanford, the financial oversight board's chairman. Sanford said legislators need to sign on to any early release plan.
And even if state law allows early releases, "that wouldn't be the only driver for us," Sanford said.
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