Prison bills would free space, fill it

Medical releases, gang laws weighed

State lawmakers spent Tuesday morning finding ways to release some inmates from an overcrowded state prison system. But by the afternoon, lawmakers were looking to create new penalties that could put more people behind bars.

A House judiciary committee unanimously approved a Senate bill that would allow the early release of some geriatric, terminally ill or seriously disabled inmates. State prison officials say the legislation could free up more than 160 beds and save millions of dollars. The bill could get final approval in the House next week.

Those beds could quickly go to gang members, who face the possibility of being charged with several new crimes. The Senate Rules Committee approved legislation that creates felonies for associating with gangs, organizing them, threatening gang members who seek to leave and recruiting new members. The legislation has the potential to increase the prison population by nearly 180 inmates in the first year alone.

Anti-gang bill vote

The Senate could vote on the anti-gang legislation today. The House has already passed an anti-gang bill, and the differences would likely be worked out in a conference of House and Senate lawmakers. Rep. Mickey Michaux, a Durham Democrat and sponsor of the House bill, said much could be resolved if the Senate goes along with a House budget proposal to spend $10 million on prevention and intervention programs.

Lawmakers say movement on both bills in the same day was unrelated, but they reflect the pressures lawmakers are facing on two high profile criminal justice issues. Lawmakers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build and expand prisons over the past several years to keep up with an ever-growing prison population that will hit 40,000 inmates next year. But despite all the bricks and mortar, the state faces a projected shortage of more than 6,000 beds come 2017.

Meanwhile, communities across the state have been asking lawmakers for years to help combat the growing presence of gangs. The issue was again thrust under the spotlight this year when two college students in the Triangle were found shot dead. Arrests have been made in the killings of Eve Carson, UNC-Chapel Hill's student body president, and Abhijit Mahato, a Duke University graduate student, but authorities have not said whether the deaths were gang-related.

The anti-gang bill drew immediate comments from both gubernatorial candidates, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, a New Bern Democrat, and Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, a Republican. Perdue's chief of staff, Don Hobart, was offered the chance at the rules committee meeting to announce that Perdue fully supports the Senate legislation.

After the meeting, McCrory made an appearance at the legislature and suggested that lawmakers were moving quickly because of public pressure. Mayors from across the state are planning to visit the legislature today to advocate for anti-gang legislation.

The Senate legislation doesn't please everyone. Sarah Preston, legislative counsel for the ACLU's North Carolina chapter, said it does not allow those convicted of gang activity the opportunity to later expunge that label if they are rehabilitated.

The early release bill targets some of the state's most expensive inmates. The Correction Department reviewed a sample of 20 such inmates and found they each cost the prison system an average of $87,000 a year, largely because of their health care costs.

Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand's bill would allow those inmates to be released so long as they are no longer a threat to society and would be accepted into an adequate health-care program. In most cases, the inmates' care would be shifted to two other taxpayer supported programs, Medicaid and Medicare.

No rapists or killers

Inmates who committed serious violent crimes such as murder or rape would not be eligible. The Correction Department and the state parole commission would decide who wins release. Those who violate the terms of release, or whose health improves substantially, would go back into prison.

Rep. Deborah Ross, a Raleigh Democrat, said she took up the bill in her judiciary committee because she was satisfied that the legislation would protect the public, save the state money and make sure the freed inmates receive adequate care.

"It's good legislation on a number of levels," Ross said. "First of all, it frees up prison beds for younger, violent offenders."