A steady rise in the number of inmates and the political risks of paroling prisoners early are complicating Pennsylvania’s efforts to ease crowded conditions in its prisons.
The 27 existing lockups now hold nearly 47,000 inmates, which is up from a population of just over 36,000 in 1998. The number of inmates is now 8 percent over the current capacity of 43,300. And the tide keeps on rising. State Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard estimates that the overall prison population could top 57,000 by the end of 2012. Legislators’ desire to be “tough on crime” and the public’s fear of rising drug-related crimes have led to longer and more mandatory sentences. Correctional costs, at $1.6 billion for 2008-09, are the third biggest item in the $28 billion state budget, after education and welfare costs.
Progress to ease the crowded cells is going slowly. The Department of Corrections wants to build three new state prisons, each costing $200 million and holding 2,000 inmates. But the first of the three new prisons won’t be open before mid- to late 2011.
The state Legislature has enacted a new law, one advocated by House Speaker Dennis O’Brien, R-Philadelphia. It’s aimed at making more nonviolent prisoners eligible for early release. They would have to complete programs to ease their transition back into society, such as anger management and overcoming drug use, before being paroled. By paroling more appropriate prisoners, officials believe they can moderate the rising tab for prison construction and operational costs, and thus ease the financial strain on state taxpayers.
But giving parole to the wrong inmate — one who later commits another crime — can spell political disaster … Gov. Ed Rendell, a former mayor of Philadelphia, found himself under pressure from police unions and citizens groups, and imposed a temporary moratorium on all parolees, nonviolent as well as violent. The moratorium was lifted last week for nonviolent prisoners, whom Mr. Rendell defines as prisoners “with no history of a violent offense.” The corrections department and the Board of Probation and Parole will decide if an inmate qualifies as nonviolent and thus can be let out of prison early …Mr. Rendell said, “The moratorium on paroles for all violent offenders remains in effect.”
As for the three new prisons …
[T]he first will go on the grounds of the existing SCI Rockview in Centre County … A ground-breaking is expected in 2009 and the project would take about two years to complete … A second new prison is to be built somewhere in Fayette County, which already has one. Corrections officials are now scouting several other sites in Fayette County for the second prison, with a decision expected by next spring. There are several counties where the third new prison could be built, including two sites in Schuylkill and one each in Northumberland, Huntingdon and Luzerne. Another possibility is on the grounds of Graterford state prison outside Philadelphia.
More details on this available in the article at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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