Rising inmate population puts state in a bind

Build prisons or reduce sentences?

Unless state lawmakers make changes to cut sentences, they will have to spend tens of millions of dollars to expand North Carolina's prison system, prison population projections show.

Even with two expansion projects approved last year, the system's capacity will be exceeded this year. By 2017, the state's prisons will not have a place for more than 6,000 inmates, or 13 percent of the projected prison population.

"If we don't get around 800 or so beds authorized a year, we'll run out of space if the projections are accurate -- and they have been in the past," said Boyd Bennett, the state Correction Department's prisons director.

Overcrowded prisons have a domino effect: Prisoners awaiting transfers from county jails may be held there until space opens up at a state prison.

The N.C. Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission produces the projections every year. So far, lawmakers have dealt with the surging prison population primarily by spending on bricks and mortar. A growing state population and more criminal penalties on the books have helped create the space crunch.

Susan Katzenelson, the commission's executive director, said the latest projections show prison population growth has slowed slightly but not enough to save the state from a hefty construction bill. Last year's expansion projects -- which included a 252-bed wing at Alexander Correctional Institution and a 504-bed wing at Scotland Correctional Institution -- cost more than $32 million.

Bennett said the department's latest 10-year capital plan includes several expansions at existing prisons, plus another 1,000-bed dormitory-style prison for medium-custody inmates.

Tweak the laws?

State Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Carrboro Democrat and co-chairwoman of a committee that helps set the department's budget, said she would like her colleagues to look for alternatives to prison expansion. The commission has offered suggestions that would tweak sentencing laws to shorten some prison terms.

"There's no need to build all these prisons when we know that we can reduce the population in a very simple way that's safe for the public," she said.

So far, lawmakers have been unwilling to take up those recommendations, which could reduce the prison population by as many as 1,000 inmates, Kinnaird said. She thinks lawmakers worry about being portrayed as soft on crime come election time.

Rep. Carolyn Justus, a Hendersonville Republican who also sits on the budget committee, said she might consider sentencing alternatives for nonviolent criminals, but tweaking sentencing laws to free up prison space doesn't sit well with her.

"I don't think very much of those proposals," she said. The current sentencing laws "are supposed to be the best there is, and then we start changing it just because we want to turn some people loose? That doesn't seem to be a very good reason."

States get creative

In recent years, many other states have begun finding alternatives to building prisons, according to a new report by the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Some of the measures states are adopting include expanding community correction programs, boosting incentives for inmate good behavior and more help for inmates making the transition back to society.

"State spending on corrections has grown to nearly $50 billion a year, and state leaders aren't seeing a sufficient return on that investment in terms of safer communities," Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety Performance Project, said in a news release. "Lawmakers in a number of states are looking for better approaches and finding them using prison for violent and career offenders and beefing up community corrections to stop the others from cycling through the revolving door."

North Carolina's growing prison population also makes it more difficult for lawmakers to get tougher on certain criminals. Lawmakers have talked about increased penalties for gang activity, for example, only to be rebuffed by legislative leaders who worry about the prison construction bill.