Plans for prison beds fall short of need
Thursday, December 28th, 2006
By Chris Fitzsimon
Inmate population expected to exceed expansion efforts
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH
Existing plans to add beds to North Carolina’s prison system will fail to accommodate the growing prison population, according to recent estimates.
Even when the state completes an expansion effort in 2008, the state’s prisons will have 400 too many inmates. According to the state’s latest estimates of the prison population, by 2016 there will be 6,400 more inmates than beds if no action is taken to deal with the issue.
As state legislators and Gov. Mike Easley prepare for another legislative session, they will likely have to think about spending tens of millions of dollars to target crowded prisons.
"You can’t wait until the last minute to decide what you are going to do," said Boyd Bennett, the director of prisons for the N.C. Department of Correction.
In addition to creating or finding new places to put inmates, legislators could consider shortening prison sentences. As it is, crowding could make it more difficult for them to pass legislation to toughen penalties for some crimes.
"What scares me is we’re making new laws every day that are putting more people in jail, and so the population’s going up - I don’t see it going down - and we’re going to have to work harder to accommodate them," said state Sen. John Snow.
Snow, a Democrat from Cherokee County and former Superior Court judge is a co-chairman of a budget subcommittee that oversees prison spending. (more…)
Last 5 posts in Daily News
- Senator backs less business regulation - September 5th, 2008
- Drunken Driving - September 5th, 2008
- Easley budget adviser Gerlach going to Golden LEAF - September 5th, 2008
- Lottery case before Supreme Court next week - September 5th, 2008
- Bowles opposes lowering legal drinking age - September 4th, 2008
Email This Post
Print This Post
