strongernow
06-06-2004, 03:00 PM
Prison reforms face uphill fight
New chief battles budget pinch, get-tough attitude
By CARLOS CAMPOS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/05/04
HARDWICK — The inmates listen carefully to the well-dressed visitor whom they've gathered around in the recreation yard of Men's State Prison.
He's talking about their freedom, and these convicted felons strain in the blistering Middle Georgia sun to hear every word.
"In Georgia, we have a little bit of a crisis in the number of people we have locked up," state Corrections Commissioner James Donald tells the 100 or so men. "We have to figure out who it is we're afraid of . . . if you're predatory and you're one of those bad guys, maybe you should stay in prison. But if you made a mistake . . . we ought to be talking more seriously about restoration and rehabilitation."
Appointed by Gov. Sonny Perdue in November, Donald has spent six months visiting more than half of Georgia's 87 prison facilities and talking with wardens, guards, counselors, administrators and inmates. Now he's beginning to unveil his plan for the future of corrections in Georgia, aimed at stemming the growth of the inmate population and reducing the massive cost to taxpayers.
Donald, 55, a retired Army two-star general who was last stationed at Atlanta's Fort McPherson in 2003, has no experience in corrections. But it didn't take him long to understand some basic facts: Georgia prisons are packed and taxpayers are footing a bill of almost $900 million a year — the fifth-largest expense in state government, behind only education and health care-related spending.
More than 48,000 convicted felons are imprisoned in Georgia, and the number of people locked up has more than doubled since 1993, fueled by tougher sentencing laws and stricter parole policies. At the current growth rate of 2,000 inmates per year, by 2011 it would cost the state $728 million to build 14 more prisons and $252 million more per year to operate them.
Donald believes that inmates fit into two categories. There are violent and repeat offenders who should serve hard time, and there are nonviolent offenders who need education, job skills and substance abuse counseling to help make sure they don't return to prison.
With that philosophy in mind, Donald is proposing alternatives to traditional prison for some offenders. But he is beginning to encounter resistance from a public eager to punish criminals severely and state legislators reluctant to spend scarce dollars on rehabilitation. Donald is undeterred.
"If we're going to effect change, we've got to educate people that this is what we're trying to do to stop this rampant growth in the prison population," Donald said. He and his executive assistant, Brian Owens, plan to spread their message by speaking to civic clubs, chambers of commerce and other groups.
Making bad choices
Many inmates are not bad people but have simply made terrible choices, Donald argues. Opportunities can help them make better choices.
Donald, the son of a Newton, Miss., cotton farmer, often tells people that his education saved him from having to pick cotton for the rest of his life. Donald graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1970 and later earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Missouri.
Experimentation with rehabilitation programs has shown that they are less expensive than the $18,000 annual cost of keeping an inmate in prison. And they result in a lower rate of return to prison.
"We do a good job of keeping them locked up, but we want to change the way they think," Donald often says.
One alternative to prison, for example, is day reporting centers. Such centers allow offenders to go home in the evenings, while offering intensive drug and alcohol counseling, educational programs and job-skills training during the day.
According to corrections officials, inmates released from prison have a 27 percent chance of going back to prison within three years, while those who attend a center have a 7 percent chance of returning to prison. Donald wants to build more of those centers. It costs $17.5 million a year to operate a 1,000-bed prison, while the state can build 34 day reporting centers for that amount.
'It breaks my heart'
While Donald is earning praise from inmate advocates for his approach, he faces an uphill struggle to see some of his ideas come to fruition. Some require funding from the Georgia Legislature; others require changes in state law.
Rep. Gerald Greene (D-Cuthbert), chairman of a House committee that oversees the state prison system, said the state's tight budget is forcing legislators to make difficult decisions. Programs seen by legislators as beneficial to prisoners generally don't fare well when slicing the budget pie, Greene said.
"It's going to be a tough sell," he said. "We have a crisis in the budget, and I know that he [Donald] wants to talk about his vision — and it's great — but right now our focus must be on the budget crisis."
Donald has taken Greene and other legislators on tours of prisons, but the Corrections Department has struggled to win converts. In Macon, it has been forced to find a new location for a day reporting center after residents said they didn't want it in their neighborhood. In south Fulton County, residents are opposing a probation detention center, another alternative to prison that Donald supports. People convicted of felonies spend a short period, three to six months, in the center and then are released to serve probation.
Meanwhile, the department recently eliminated more than 150 counselor positions. The counselors' duties included providing inmates with individual and group therapy.
"It breaks my heart," Donald said of letting the counselors go. "That's what influences whether or not a guy comes back."
Donald said he's not concerned that his approach will be viewed as soft on crime. To him, it boils down to a simple question that eventually will face Georgians.
"Do you want taxes raised?" he asked. "There is no way that the state of Georgia can continue to accept a 2,000-a-year growth in inmate population . . . without considering that as an option. And I think that's where I get their [Georgians'] attention. It resonates quite well, I think, with Georgians that we need to be looking at alternative ways of dealing with this."
State parole board Chairman Milton E. "Buddy" Nix Jr. agrees with Donald that prisoners benefit from rehabilitation programs. Nix lamented, for example, that inmates were cut off in 1994 from receiving Pell Grants to earn college degrees while behind bars.
"Ninety-five percent [of inmates] will be getting out, whether we like it or not, and if we care about the safety of our state, we'd better think of better preparing this 95 percent to take care of their family and take care of themselves," Nix said. But Nix, a former FBI agent and former head of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, cautions that releasing inmates early just to ease crowding could jeopardize public safety.
People who work to help inmates re-enter society say that Donald is on the right track.
"This man has the greatest vision for the state prisons of any man that I have ever seen," said Dot Pinkerton, director of the Lighthouse Missions in Macon, who has worked for 24 years screening inmates for potential release. She helps them find jobs and provides housing.
Pinkerton says drug abusers and sex offenders are not getting the treatment they need in prison to help keep them from committing new crimes.
"We're in a sad situation," Pinkerton said. "I think the politicians should take a better look at it . . . and begin to notice, 'Hey, we need to do something about this.' We as taxpayers have an interest in the prison system."
New chief battles budget pinch, get-tough attitude
By CARLOS CAMPOS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/05/04
HARDWICK — The inmates listen carefully to the well-dressed visitor whom they've gathered around in the recreation yard of Men's State Prison.
He's talking about their freedom, and these convicted felons strain in the blistering Middle Georgia sun to hear every word.
"In Georgia, we have a little bit of a crisis in the number of people we have locked up," state Corrections Commissioner James Donald tells the 100 or so men. "We have to figure out who it is we're afraid of . . . if you're predatory and you're one of those bad guys, maybe you should stay in prison. But if you made a mistake . . . we ought to be talking more seriously about restoration and rehabilitation."
Appointed by Gov. Sonny Perdue in November, Donald has spent six months visiting more than half of Georgia's 87 prison facilities and talking with wardens, guards, counselors, administrators and inmates. Now he's beginning to unveil his plan for the future of corrections in Georgia, aimed at stemming the growth of the inmate population and reducing the massive cost to taxpayers.
Donald, 55, a retired Army two-star general who was last stationed at Atlanta's Fort McPherson in 2003, has no experience in corrections. But it didn't take him long to understand some basic facts: Georgia prisons are packed and taxpayers are footing a bill of almost $900 million a year — the fifth-largest expense in state government, behind only education and health care-related spending.
More than 48,000 convicted felons are imprisoned in Georgia, and the number of people locked up has more than doubled since 1993, fueled by tougher sentencing laws and stricter parole policies. At the current growth rate of 2,000 inmates per year, by 2011 it would cost the state $728 million to build 14 more prisons and $252 million more per year to operate them.
Donald believes that inmates fit into two categories. There are violent and repeat offenders who should serve hard time, and there are nonviolent offenders who need education, job skills and substance abuse counseling to help make sure they don't return to prison.
With that philosophy in mind, Donald is proposing alternatives to traditional prison for some offenders. But he is beginning to encounter resistance from a public eager to punish criminals severely and state legislators reluctant to spend scarce dollars on rehabilitation. Donald is undeterred.
"If we're going to effect change, we've got to educate people that this is what we're trying to do to stop this rampant growth in the prison population," Donald said. He and his executive assistant, Brian Owens, plan to spread their message by speaking to civic clubs, chambers of commerce and other groups.
Making bad choices
Many inmates are not bad people but have simply made terrible choices, Donald argues. Opportunities can help them make better choices.
Donald, the son of a Newton, Miss., cotton farmer, often tells people that his education saved him from having to pick cotton for the rest of his life. Donald graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1970 and later earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Missouri.
Experimentation with rehabilitation programs has shown that they are less expensive than the $18,000 annual cost of keeping an inmate in prison. And they result in a lower rate of return to prison.
"We do a good job of keeping them locked up, but we want to change the way they think," Donald often says.
One alternative to prison, for example, is day reporting centers. Such centers allow offenders to go home in the evenings, while offering intensive drug and alcohol counseling, educational programs and job-skills training during the day.
According to corrections officials, inmates released from prison have a 27 percent chance of going back to prison within three years, while those who attend a center have a 7 percent chance of returning to prison. Donald wants to build more of those centers. It costs $17.5 million a year to operate a 1,000-bed prison, while the state can build 34 day reporting centers for that amount.
'It breaks my heart'
While Donald is earning praise from inmate advocates for his approach, he faces an uphill struggle to see some of his ideas come to fruition. Some require funding from the Georgia Legislature; others require changes in state law.
Rep. Gerald Greene (D-Cuthbert), chairman of a House committee that oversees the state prison system, said the state's tight budget is forcing legislators to make difficult decisions. Programs seen by legislators as beneficial to prisoners generally don't fare well when slicing the budget pie, Greene said.
"It's going to be a tough sell," he said. "We have a crisis in the budget, and I know that he [Donald] wants to talk about his vision — and it's great — but right now our focus must be on the budget crisis."
Donald has taken Greene and other legislators on tours of prisons, but the Corrections Department has struggled to win converts. In Macon, it has been forced to find a new location for a day reporting center after residents said they didn't want it in their neighborhood. In south Fulton County, residents are opposing a probation detention center, another alternative to prison that Donald supports. People convicted of felonies spend a short period, three to six months, in the center and then are released to serve probation.
Meanwhile, the department recently eliminated more than 150 counselor positions. The counselors' duties included providing inmates with individual and group therapy.
"It breaks my heart," Donald said of letting the counselors go. "That's what influences whether or not a guy comes back."
Donald said he's not concerned that his approach will be viewed as soft on crime. To him, it boils down to a simple question that eventually will face Georgians.
"Do you want taxes raised?" he asked. "There is no way that the state of Georgia can continue to accept a 2,000-a-year growth in inmate population . . . without considering that as an option. And I think that's where I get their [Georgians'] attention. It resonates quite well, I think, with Georgians that we need to be looking at alternative ways of dealing with this."
State parole board Chairman Milton E. "Buddy" Nix Jr. agrees with Donald that prisoners benefit from rehabilitation programs. Nix lamented, for example, that inmates were cut off in 1994 from receiving Pell Grants to earn college degrees while behind bars.
"Ninety-five percent [of inmates] will be getting out, whether we like it or not, and if we care about the safety of our state, we'd better think of better preparing this 95 percent to take care of their family and take care of themselves," Nix said. But Nix, a former FBI agent and former head of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, cautions that releasing inmates early just to ease crowding could jeopardize public safety.
People who work to help inmates re-enter society say that Donald is on the right track.
"This man has the greatest vision for the state prisons of any man that I have ever seen," said Dot Pinkerton, director of the Lighthouse Missions in Macon, who has worked for 24 years screening inmates for potential release. She helps them find jobs and provides housing.
Pinkerton says drug abusers and sex offenders are not getting the treatment they need in prison to help keep them from committing new crimes.
"We're in a sad situation," Pinkerton said. "I think the politicians should take a better look at it . . . and begin to notice, 'Hey, we need to do something about this.' We as taxpayers have an interest in the prison system."