~BabyG~
05-05-2004, 02:19 PM
I thought everyone would be interested in this:
I read this article about some of the prisons in Georgia closing. It is a real good article....here goes!
ATLANTA - Rutledge State Prison in Columbus survived a first round of cuts to trim the state budget but may be closed to meet deeper cuts announced during a budget briefing Thursday.
Lawmakers heard prison officials outline prison closings, layoffs and furloughs proposed to help the department trim $69 million next fiscal year, down to a total budget of $847 million.
The cuts would come from eliminating all counseling that's not mandated by law, cutting prison libraries, eliminating all state-paid chaplains and shuffling thousands of low-level offenders back to county jails.
Even with the cuts, 15 state correction centers would be closed, including Rutledge, Bostick and Putnam state prisons. Some employees would be laid off, and the rest would be furloughed one day every other month.
After hearing the numbers, lawmakers wondered whether all the mandatory-minimum laws they've passed in the last 10 years have come back to bite Georgia in the behind.
With the encouragement of former Govs. Zell Miller and Roy Barnes, the Legislature passed a "two-strikes" law requiring 10-year minimums for violent offenders, with a life-without-parole sentence for the second crime.
In 1998 the Legislature passed even more mandatory minimums for crimes dubbed the "seven deadly sins."
"We've created a monster of a system," said Rep. Alan Powell, D-Hartwell.
For instance, a violent offender who is released early on parole is monitored by the state for the rest of his term. A violent offender who serves an entire term is given $25 and a bus ticket, with no state control over where he goes or what he does.
Prison officials also warned that longer sentences mean older prisoners, boosting the expense of caring for graying convicts.
"People are serving longer than ever before. They're coming in and they're not going anywhere," said Mike Light, a member of the Pardons & Paroles Board.
One in 15 Georgians is in prison or on parole or probation, giving Georgia the nation's fourth-highest incarceration rate. Georgia has more inmates serving life terms -- 6,200 -- than 13 states have total inmates.
Alan Adams, who gave the budget outlook for the Department of Corrections, warned that prisons will have to stop most efforts to rehabilitate or train prisoners just so they can afford to safely house them.
"I'm not trying to sugarcoat this at all. There's not a good side to this," Adams said.
Lawmakers at the briefing called for a second look at sentencing minimums.
"We've taken a lot of discretion away from the judiciary," Powell said.
Other lawmakers said they feared overcrowded prisons would put employees in danger. Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, even wondered what the point is of socking people away in prison if there's no money to give them job skills or drug counseling, tools needed to prevent prisoners from returning to crime.
"We need to explain to the public that we're being penny-wise and pound-foolish," Fort said.
The budget cuts aren't final. Gov. Sonny Perdue will propose a state budget by January, and state lawmakers make the final decision.
I read this article about some of the prisons in Georgia closing. It is a real good article....here goes!
ATLANTA - Rutledge State Prison in Columbus survived a first round of cuts to trim the state budget but may be closed to meet deeper cuts announced during a budget briefing Thursday.
Lawmakers heard prison officials outline prison closings, layoffs and furloughs proposed to help the department trim $69 million next fiscal year, down to a total budget of $847 million.
The cuts would come from eliminating all counseling that's not mandated by law, cutting prison libraries, eliminating all state-paid chaplains and shuffling thousands of low-level offenders back to county jails.
Even with the cuts, 15 state correction centers would be closed, including Rutledge, Bostick and Putnam state prisons. Some employees would be laid off, and the rest would be furloughed one day every other month.
After hearing the numbers, lawmakers wondered whether all the mandatory-minimum laws they've passed in the last 10 years have come back to bite Georgia in the behind.
With the encouragement of former Govs. Zell Miller and Roy Barnes, the Legislature passed a "two-strikes" law requiring 10-year minimums for violent offenders, with a life-without-parole sentence for the second crime.
In 1998 the Legislature passed even more mandatory minimums for crimes dubbed the "seven deadly sins."
"We've created a monster of a system," said Rep. Alan Powell, D-Hartwell.
For instance, a violent offender who is released early on parole is monitored by the state for the rest of his term. A violent offender who serves an entire term is given $25 and a bus ticket, with no state control over where he goes or what he does.
Prison officials also warned that longer sentences mean older prisoners, boosting the expense of caring for graying convicts.
"People are serving longer than ever before. They're coming in and they're not going anywhere," said Mike Light, a member of the Pardons & Paroles Board.
One in 15 Georgians is in prison or on parole or probation, giving Georgia the nation's fourth-highest incarceration rate. Georgia has more inmates serving life terms -- 6,200 -- than 13 states have total inmates.
Alan Adams, who gave the budget outlook for the Department of Corrections, warned that prisons will have to stop most efforts to rehabilitate or train prisoners just so they can afford to safely house them.
"I'm not trying to sugarcoat this at all. There's not a good side to this," Adams said.
Lawmakers at the briefing called for a second look at sentencing minimums.
"We've taken a lot of discretion away from the judiciary," Powell said.
Other lawmakers said they feared overcrowded prisons would put employees in danger. Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, even wondered what the point is of socking people away in prison if there's no money to give them job skills or drug counseling, tools needed to prevent prisoners from returning to crime.
"We need to explain to the public that we're being penny-wise and pound-foolish," Fort said.
The budget cuts aren't final. Gov. Sonny Perdue will propose a state budget by January, and state lawmakers make the final decision.