Oh reward the prisoners to fix your budget, great idea.
COLUMBIA --- South Carolina's prison director said Thursday he has prepared plans to deal with a budget shortfall in part by releasing inmates early if the Legislature approves.
Corrections Department Director Jon Ozmint told the state's budget oversight board he has drafted legislation that would have lawmakers order early releases and close prisons.
Mr. Ozmint said the prison system has implemented big and small cost-saving measures that will help it operate without losing more money as costs rise for things he has a difficult time controlling, such as health care.
But there are no more big savings areas short of trimming payrolls by releasing prisoners early and shutting down prisons. Mr. Ozmint proposed that earlier this year with a deficit reduction plan given legislators. "There was no appetite for that in the Legislature," he said.
That would have come in the midst of election season. Beyond that, "just on the surface, early release scares people," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Cooper said after Mr. Ozmint spoke to the Budget and Control Board. The Piedmont Republican is one of the board's five members.
With up to a two-year downturn, Mr. Ozmint told the board his draft legislation would cut time from the end of sentences. The proposal would have no effect on those serving life sentences.
"The Legislature gets to choose. If I want to move that date up two months, then I can close a prison. I can mothball a prison -- close that prison -- save those operating costs for two years or one year -- however long you want to give us those powers," Mr. Ozmint told Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman.
Gov. Mark Sanford was skeptical, saying people committing crimes and crime victims deserve to know exactly how long people will be incarcerated.
Comments
Oh reward the prisoners to fix your budget, great idea.
"But there are no more big savings areas short of trimming payrolls".....so TRIM the payrolls !!!!
That makes a lot more sense to trim the payrolls than to release the criminals...It seems the track record of releasing criminals back into society comes with a high price tag usually in the form of someone getting hurt...
Nobody is going to win in this situation. It is very easy for people to say trim the payrolls, but the guards already don't make enough. I have a brother-in-law who was a SC corrections officer for many years. He told me that he left because the pay was not worth his life. The officers are told on day one that if there is a riot and hostages are taken, there will be no negotiations (something that I can agree with). The final straw for him was when he opened a television that was sent to a prisoner and found a gun. The low pay definitely wasn't worth it then. Starting pay is anywhere from $23K - 29K per year. That's just not enough to risk your life, let alone talk about cutting. This is a problem, but I don't see cutting payroll as the answer.
Prisons should be for thieves and violent criminals and they need to serve harse sentences. Too many of our prisons are filled with non-violent drug offenders. Drug use and possession of small amounts for personal consumption,should be decriminalized. Substance abuse should not be dealt with by incarceration but by treatment and truthful education,as alcohol addiction is currently treated.Don't forget that alcohol was once illegal and we all know how that worked. Prison are modern days mental health facilities as well. The system has no way to deal with them so they lock them up. There's a reason that the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world and it certainly isn't because we have the worst folks!Let prisons be what they were meant to be:to separate us from others who want to harm us or our property,not themselves.
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