Community corrections programs across the state are getting more than $5 million from state coffers.News from the Charleston Daily Mail.

Gov. Joe Manchin’s office says the money will help communities set up and operate corrections programs that give judges a sentencing option besides jail.

Grants are going to 22 programs serving counties from the Eastern Panhandle to Mason County and Hancock County to the southern coalfields counties of Logan, Mingo, Boone and Lincoln.

Manchin announced the grants Tuesday.

jchev Community Corrections, Grants, West Virginia

With construction on the new McDowell Federal Correctional Institution scheduled for completion next month, officials are stressing opportunities that are currently available for local businesses and entrepreneurs. News reported in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.

In addition to the ongoing hiring of employees, the federal prison also will be looking to buy goods and services from the community, according to Rachel Lester, the county’s economic development director.

“We’ve actually put a package together for citizens and business leaders,” Lester said. “There are so many items that could be provided locally — anything that it would take to operate a small city. It’s also an opportunity for local entrepreneurs to start up businesses and something we could help them with. If they are interested, we have packets they can pick up at the EDA (office in Welch) that provides them details.”

Lester said several workshops and webinars also are being held to inform and assist the public with government contracting.

Construction on the $232 million federal prison is scheduled for completion next month. Lester said the Federal Bureau of Prisons is still listing its opening date as spring.

Lester said hiring for internal positions is well underway and response has been good so far from McDowell County citizens.

“Everything is on schedule,” Lester said. “They are still saying spring. I know they are holding interviews. We are excited to get it going.”

jchev Jail and Prison Construction, West Virginia

A smoother process for handling paroles of prison inmates, and possibly easing the population crunch in penal institutions, is the intent of legislation crafted by an interims committee. News reported in The Montgomery Herald.

But the parole idea might not be the lone one advanced by the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority, says a co-chairman, Delegate Dave Perry, D-Fayette.

While Gov. Joe Manchin set up a special task force to look at the crowded conditions in prisons and jails, Perry’s committee decided to commission a separate report, performed by the West Virginia University Law Institute.

A report is due in the committee’s hands at the January interims session, Perry said.

“I won’t know until we see the final report,” he said when asked if additional legislation is contemplated.

Prison overcrowding has been a constant them in recent years, and the situation hasn’t improved. Some lawmakers are talking about expansion of alternative sentencing and reforms in the criminal sentencing code so that non-violent offenders aren’t put behind bars.

Otherwise, some have warned, West Virginia would have no choice but to build a new prison, costing in the neighborhood of $20 million.

One step is being taken in dealing with paroles. Under existing policy, an inmate must have a home plan approved as a requirement for release.

“This necessitates that they could have parole without assuming the family home plan has been approved,” Perry said of the bill approved by his panel this month.

“Under current practice, they have to have a home plan approved prior to being considered. This would expedite the parole process. I think it would make it a more efficient process for those who are eligible.”

Perry said he believes a number of inmates are being held back from release due to the home plan.

Before the 2010 session opens, Perry suggested his committee might draft legislation to impose tougher penalties on sexual offenses behind bars.

Within a five-year stretch, the state was hit with 21 lawsuits involving alleged sexual misconduct in penal institutions.

“Our intention is to have a piece of legislation to address that issue,” Perry said.

Based on data supplied his panel, Perry said it appears the problem is one that demands legislative action.

In a recent interims meeting, Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein said the problems were confined to the Anthony youthful offender facility in Greenbrier County and a women’s prison at Lakin, Mason County. Mount Olive Correctional Complex in Fayette County wasn’t involved.

“We’re very proactive on this,” Rubenstein told the panel. “We have zero tolerance.”

jchev Overcrowding, Parole, West Virginia

Counties across West Virginia are warming to community corrections, in part because it costs them between $5 to $15 per offender per day, compared to $49.25 for each day in a regional jail, legislators learned Tuesday.  Article from the Charleston Gazette.

“There are significant savings to sending people to community corrections as opposed to sending them to jail,” said Norb Federspiel, director of the Division of Criminal Justice Service. “My personal opinion is, the counties have been the chief beneficiaries” of community corrections, he told a legislative interim committee.

Since the Legislature passed the Community Corrections Act in 2001, 40 counties are participating in community corrections programs, primarily through day reporting centers, Federspiel said. At any given time, between 1,200 and 1,500 nonviolent offenders are in community corrections programs, saving counties about $50,000 a day in regional jail costs. “There’s no doubt that it has saved counties money to have people sentenced to day report centers instead of jails for misdemeanor offenses,” Federspiel told the interim committee on regional jails and corrections.

While West Virginia’s program is too new to provide solid data on outcomes, he said community corrections in other states have reported recidivism rates that are 40 percent lower than for incarcerated inmates. Offenders in West Virginia community corrections must complete community service assignments, undergo counseling and participate in assigned programs based on their needs. Programs include substance abuse treatment, job training, adult basic education, anger management and life skills courses. Federspiel said drug rehabilitation is a critical factor, since a significant percentage of all nonviolent offenders have been convicted either of drug offenses, or for property crimes committed in order to buy drugs. Not everyone sentenced to community corrections is up to the challenge, he told lawmakers. “There are some who’ve said, ‘This is too tough. Put me in prison,” he said.

One of the key recommendations this summer in the report of Governor’s Commission on Prison Overcrowding is to expand capacities of community corrections programs statewide. Currently, the state spends just more than $5 million a year on community corrections, with about $1.8 million coming from the state’s half of a $10 community corrections court fee imposed on all convictions other than parking tickets. In recent years, an additional $3.5 million a year has been appropriated from general revenue funds, he said. The funds are distributed to counties as grants, with counties required to put up 10 percent to 30 percent of the amount in matching funds.

Asked why 15 counties are not participating, Federspiel said most are small, rural counties that may not have significant crime problems. In some counties, he added, some circuit judges simply oppose the concept of community corrections. “Some judges philosophically don’t believe in community corrections. They believe offenders should go to jail,” he said.

jakking Community Corrections, Economic Issues, Recidivism, Regional Jail System, Regional Jails, West Virginia

A trend has emerged within the past three years that sees fewer inmates sentenced to West Virginia’s regional jails for minor crimes — but that has made barely a dent in overcrowding.  Reported by the Register-Herald.

Since 2007, the number of misdemeanor sentencings has fallen by 1,935 inmates, Regional Jail Director Terry Miller told a legislative panel Monday.  In a 12-county southern region, only two counties bucked the trend. Monroe, for instance, has committed 34 such inmates this year, contrasted with 20 the previous year and five in 2007. Nicholas County witnessed an upswing from 201 in 2007 to 284 this year.

Overall, the downward trend is a positive sign at a time when prison overcrowding is a major concern, suggested Delegate Dave Perry, co-chairman of the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority. “That’s positive,” Perry said, adding that the effect of day reporting centers and other community corrections efforts cannot be underestimated. Even with this trend, however, Perry said the Legislature faces a huge task in easing crowded prisons. “It’s not adequate to address the number of beds available,” he said. “If you look at the Division of Corrections numbers, there is still a large number of inmates that are housed in regional jails that should be in the DOC.”

As of the last headcount taken Thursday, the 10-facility jail system contained 3,962 inmates, or 1,178 above the maximum for which they were designed. Among that number were 1,299 inmates sentenced to state prisons, and 159 federal inmates, Miller’s report indicated. An extra 270 bunks have been added this year, leaving 699 in excess of total bunks. Southern Regional Jail in Beaver had 506 inmates, including 71 awaiting transfer to state prisons, and 27 federal inmates. “As outside programs have developed, such as day report and alternative sentencing, that has caused a downward trend,” Perry said. Sen. Bill Laird pointed out that day reporting centers are operating in all but four of the 55 counties.

Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein cautioned the committee that his agency is functioning at capacity, unable to accept the state prisoners now in regional jails. If that trend holds sway, the backlog of state convicts in regional jails will swell to 3,500 by the end of 2012, he warned. Gov. Joe Manchin has commissioned a special task force to study prison overcrowding, and a fresh look at its findings its due today before Judiciary Subcommittee C. Miller pointed out that 4,742 arrests for first-time driving under the influence were taken to regional jails this year. “That’s something we can look at on sentencing structuring,” he said.

Miller’s agency also is facing 96 vacant positions, and emphasized that none is considered frozen. “You always have some empty positions,” he told the panel. Miller said the authority has begun to “aggressively” rev up its recruiting and retention program.

jakking Overcrowding, Personnel Issues, Regional Jail System, Regional Jails, Sentencing, West Virginia

A study advocating an overhaul of West Virginia’s corrections system can’t be allowed to sit on a shelf and gather dust just because it carries a price tag of nearly $256 million, said Homeland Security and Military Affairs Secretary Jim Spears.  From the Charleston Daily Mail.

Spears chaired the study sought by Gov. Joe Manchin as a way of curbing inmate overcrowding in the state’s 14 prisons and 10 regional jails. The study, submitted to Manchin last week, carries 14 recommendations for revamping the system.

The recommendations include modifying sentencing laws to reduce terms for nonviolent crimes, diverting inmates with drug and alcohol abuse problems to treatment programs, expanding community-based sentencing and treatment options, adding 1,820 new prison beds by building community-based units, expanding an existing prison and building a 1,200-bed medium-security prison.

“The commission fully recommended that no single aspect of it is the silver bullet, but it has to be done in its entirety for it to have the positive impact we believe it will have,” Spears said.

Manchin commissioned the study following a two-day summit in November on  overcrowding in the state’s prisons. The system is designed for 5,300 inmates, but another 1,200 are being held in regional jails awaiting transfer to a state facility.The corrections population grows by three inmates a day. The report said the state’s prison population is expected to hit 8,530 inmates by 2012. By 2017, the population is expected to hit 10,304 if the state doesn’t change sentencing, treatment, rehabilitation and housing policies, the commission’s report said.

An estimated 700 inmates could be kept out of the system if all branches of West Virginia’s government adopt the commission’s recommendations, said commission member Kent Carper.

“If the Legislature, the executive branch and the judicial branch actually takes the time to read it, it will be very hard to ignore,” said Carper, who also is president of the Kanawha County Commission.

Since 1991, the Legislature has voted 75 times to modify sentencing laws or create new ones. Lawmakers also increased the mandatory minimum sentences for several crimes. The report found that between 2001 and 2006 sentences grew by as much as 33 months. The sentence for murder grew from 53.6 months to 86.1 months. Burglary increased 20 months to 44.4 months.

Nearly two-thirds of West Virginia inmates were sentenced for nonviolent crimes.

It costs about $28,000 a year to feed and house an inmate. Diverting up to 500 inmates a year to community-corrections programs could save the state at least $14 million. Community corrections includes home confinement, electronic monitoring or intense supervision, rather than prison.

“To believe the Legislature will soften criminal penalties across the board is a pipe dream,” Carper said. “But people would support rehabilitation and using those savings to straighten them up.”

About 19 percent of the inmates suffer from mental health issues, yet the state has no programs to focus on mental health or substance abuse issues. Residential treatment centers are needed statewide, the report said.

Manchin has yet to say how he intends to address the report’s findings, but Senate Judiciary Chairman Jeff Kessler said the Legislature doesn’t have to wait for Manchin.

“The governor has a significant role to play,” the Marshall County Democrat said. “Now, it cries out for legislative action and legislative solutions. It’s going to cost some money.”

Because of what Kessler termed a “looming crisis” the Legislature must at least consider building the new 1,200-bed prison. Construction estimates range from $100 million to $200 million.

“Our options are set out pretty clearly in the report,” said Kessler, who served on the study commission. “Build several new prisons or address our penal laws.”

The governor’s study isn’t the only review of the state’s correction system. The state Supreme Court has launched its own review to determine how West Virginia is complying with a 2002 order on the transfer of inmates from regional jails to state prisons. State inmates held in regional jails do not receive training, rehabilitation and other services given to inmates being held in state prisons.

“If there isn’t some attention paid to this, the court system will step in and do the job of the other two branches,” Carper said.

And if that happens, the state will have to follow the Supreme Court’s order regardless of the cost, Spears said. The court ordered the state to build a new maximum-security penitentiary in 1986 after declaring conditions in the former penitentiary unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court’s review isn’t expected to be completed until next year.

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A newly signed bill gives the West Virginia Supreme Court the ability to establish five pre-trial release pilot projects across the state.  Reported by the West Virginia Record.

The law, which goes into effect July 7, was signed Wednesday by Gov. Joe Manchin, who said the new law will make West Virginia safer, save money on regional jail costs, and make the administration of justice more efficient … Supreme Court Administrator Steve Canterbury, who also is the former executive director of the state Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority, praised the idea.  “This is the natural outgrowth of community corrections, proving that we were, and we still are, on the cutting edge,” Canterbury said.  Canterbury said by starting the project in five areas, officials can monitor the programs and easier make changes if necessary.

The projects are based on a program that has been operating in Brooke County for several months.  There, when a law enforcement officer arrests someone he or she believes is a good candidate for the program, the officer calls the magistrate on duty. That magistrate signs a release allowing the defendant to participate in the program rather than go to jail on bond while awaiting trial. The defendant must appear the next day to meet with a pre-trial officer who does a criminal background check and prepares a report to give to the prosecutor and a supervising magistrate or circuit judge.

Under the new law, only people charged with non-violent misdemeanors and felonies will be eligible for the pre-trial release pilot projects.  While on pre-trial release, the defendant reports regularly to a pre-trial officer, wears a global positioning device, or is on home confinement, whichever is deemed most suitable by the supervising magistrate or circuit judge. The defendant must continue to work and pass regular urine checks.

Canterbury said it seems to have worked so far in Brooke County.    “The jail population has dropped dramatically,” he said. He didn’t have the specific numbers available, but he said the decrease was from about 40 or so inmates a day to about 15.   “That’s a significant drop,” he said. “And that is a lot of money saved, too.”   Canterbury said Brooke County has been paying about $5 per day per inmate to help defray the cost of testing and supervision instead of $48 to place the inmate in jail …

The new law requires the pilot projects to be established in five circuits using existing community corrections resources, specifically pre-trial officers and day report centers. The location of the pilot projects has not been determined.  Canterbury — who with Gaughan and Lee are considered by many the founders of community corrections in West Virginia — said the Supreme Court will file annual reports to the Legislature on the progress of the pilot projects.

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A big break could be in the works for some West Virginia Counties when it comes to regional jail costs.  On Wednesday the Senate fast tracked a bill that would force the West Virginia Regional Jail Authority to pay back millions of dollars to counties.  Report from the State Journal.

The reason is because counties say the cost to house inmates is too high. In March the Regional Jail authority announced a surplus of more than $11 million.Cabell County Commissioner Scott Bias has been a supporter of the bill. He says the Regional Jail may have to pay as much as $17 million in jail costs back to the state Department of Corrections and many counties across West Virginia. The bill passed unanimously in the Senate. It now goes to the House for a vote.

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A recent upswing in the number of assaults at the Industrial Home for Youth facility in Salem has the West Virginia Division of Juvenile Services looking to make some changes in how its offenders are housed.  Reported by WSAZ3.

Right now, the Industrial Home for Youth has juvenile prisoners along with members of the adult population, ranging in age from 18-21 … They are considering a move that would put all 18-21 year old offenders at the Donald R. Kuhn Center in Boone County … Right now, that facility is a diagnostic center treating offenders …

Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety Spokesperson Joe Thornton said when they looked at their options, separating the adults from the juveniles was the best option, and DRK was the best place to move the adults. The juveniles currently housed there will go to the facility that best suits them somewhere else in the state. It’s not clear just how much it’s going to cost to upgrade the security at the DRK facility, but Thornton says in the end, safety of inmates outweighs the cost. He also says the folks who work at DRK are trained in all levels of security, so the fact that a more violent population is coming to Boone County doesn’t mean changes when it comes to personnel.

Women will also be moved to an all-female facility as a result of these proposed changes.

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Cabell County WV Commissioner Scott Bias said the commission recently requested financial information from the Regional Jail Authority, and calculated that the system had $30 million more than it needed in its accounts for last fiscal year.  Report from the West Virginia Sunday Gazette.

“We have serious questions about their budget,” Bias said. “They’re building a huge surplus and charging the counties for it.”   Counties pay the jail authority a daily fee of $47.53 per inmate. In July, that will increase to $48.25.  Last week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, appointed a subcommittee to look at the jail authority’s budget.  The authority needs to “have a healthy surplus,” Helmick said. But every cost must be scrutinized, especially in lean times, he added.

Joe Thornton, deputy secretary of the Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, said jail officials welcome the legislative review of the budget.  But he denied that the jail authority has done anything improper with surpluses.   State law allows the authority to keep a minimum of three months of operational expenses, about $19 million, “in case counties like Cabell don’t pay their bills,” he said … The authority understands the fiscal challenges facing counties, and has made sacrifices to keep the per diem as low as possible, he said. “With the costs of everything around us going up, the per diem is still lower than it was two years ago” when it was $48.50, Thornton said.

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Monongalia County WV wants a new Regional Jail in the region, according to the State Journal.

Commissioners have written a letter to the regional jail authority, requesting that it put a new regional jail in the area.  Inmates are currently taken to the North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County.

Monongalia county commissioners believe the project would also benefit Harrison, Marion, Taylor, Preston Counties.  Harrison and Marion Counties also take prisoners to the North Central Regional Jail, while Taylor and Preston Counties take inmates to the Tygart Valley Regional Jail in Randolph County.  “Our travel time right now is an hour and 10 to 15 minutes one way. It would cut out travel time down to 30 to 35 minutes one way, so we were looking at travel time and expenses,” said Monongalia County Commissioner Bob Bell.

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Although violent crimes are on the decline, the population of West Virginia’s prisons is quickly outgrowing the capacity of the state’s facilities, according to Joe Thornton, deputy secretary of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, which is the agency that oversees the Division of Corrections.

Currently the state has room for 5,000 prisoners in state prisons. However, there are now 6,200 inmates who have been sentenced to terms in state prisons, Thornton said. That means there are 1,200 prisoners who should be confined to state prisons but are instead sitting in regional jails awaiting transfer to prisons when a bed opens up.   “It’s a matter of perspective, but I think we’re at a crisis level right now,” Thornton said. “And now were running out of space in the regional jails, too.”   And the problem is likely to get worse …

One of the possible solutions to the problem, and one that counties in the state are beginning to look at closely, is establishing drug courts. Drug courts are designed for non-violent offenders convicted of drug-related crimes, said Linda Richmond Artimez, director of mental hygiene for the West Virginia Supreme Court.  A criminal is placed in the drug-court system by a judge and is required to undergo treatment for addiction, Artimez said. The goal is to get the offender to change their lives and stay out of the criminal-justice system.  Five new drug courts will soon be operating … in Monongalia and Preston counties along with Pocahontas, Kanawha and Cabell, according to Artimez.

However

Marion County judges are not exploring establishing a drug court in Marion County in the near future and are instead looking into other alternative sentencing options.  Marion County Circuit Court Judge Fred Fox pointed out that he and other judges are looking into establish a day-report center in conjunction with Preston County.  A day-report center is an alternative sentencing program where released inmates, or offenders who have been referred into the program by a judge, report to an agency to receive intensive monitoring and counselin.

These are just excerpts from a long and interesting article in the Times West Virginian.

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West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin is giving a special commission on inmate overcrowding until July 1 to provide initial recommendations on how to curb the problem.

West Virginia’s prisons are already overcrowded and population estimates suggest they will be busting at the seams by 2012. The state’s system has space for 5,300 inmates and projections say the population will grow by another 3,000 in four years.  Earlier this week, lawmakers were told a new 1,200-bed state prison might be needed.

Manchin’s commission is the second such panel formed to look at West Virginia’s inmate population and criminal system. The state Supreme Court created a panel last month to determine if the court needs to reinsert itself into the state’s correctional system debate.

jakking Overcrowding, West Virginia

Violent crime is on the decline in West Virginia, but the overall inmate population is rising to the level a new prison might become unavoidable, lawmakers were told Sunday.

By the year 2012, Military Affairs and Public Safety James Spears told a legislative panel, the number of inmates in state prisons could swell to 8,530. West Virginia has space for only 5,300 prisoners, and currently, the 10-unit regional jail system is housing 1,200 convicts since there is no room for them. A new prison would cost in the neighborhood of $200 million, Spears told the Joint Standing Committee on Government Organization …

Sen. Ed Bowman, D-Hancock, and others agreed that sentencing laws need to be revisited as a means of keeping some inmates out of prison and detoured into alternate means of paying a debt to society.   At the same time, for the safety of the public, he added, “I want to keep the bad guys in prison” …

Spears applauded the recent move toward drug courts, which allow for rehabilitation as an alternative to prison sentencing. He pointed out that while 30 percent of all crimes directly involve drug activity, upward of 85 percent are linked to substance abuse, such as breaking and entering.  “Protecting the public safety is of the utmost importance when we look at overpopulation,” the MAPS secretary said.  It costs about $27,000 a year to maintain an inmate in the West Virginia penal system, he said.

More on the West Virginia situation in the Beckley Register-Herald.

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• Franklin County TX Jail expansion is being paid for by revenues from Federal inmates.
• West Virginia Regional Jail Superintendent dismissed in mystery.

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The Bureau of Justice Statistics has just released the 2005 Census of Federal and State Correctional Facilities.  The document has a wealth of data across all States, including the numbers of privately-operated facilities.

The document can be accessed from the Basic Stats list at the top right sidebar.

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• Expansion of West Virginia Prison adds jobs.
• Delaware County PA votes to seek another private operator after GEO pulls out of the jail.
• Meanwhile, Phoenix decides it is cheaper to stay with Maricopa County than to hire a private jailer.
• Iowa DOC proposes status-quo budget for 2010, but requests more money if available.

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For years, West Virginia counties have complained — and sued — about the daily costs of the State’s Regional Jail system.  This year, however, the number of inmate days is down and the state-to-county refund checks are bigger.

In the past fiscal year, ending June 30, counties were billed for 848,000 inmate days, compared to 882,000 the previous year. Regional jails had 840,000 county inmates in the 2006 fiscal year. At the same time, the state has disbursed $4.2 million to counties to help defray jail costs, state Treasurer John Perdue said. That increased by about $100,000 over the past fiscal year. The funding comes from court costs incurred by those convicted of such things as speeding tickets.

Counties have been reeling about the $47.53 cost per day for housing inmates. Many have begun utilizing such things as day reporting centers and home confinement. Those actions have led to fewer days in regional jails and smaller bills to counties, while, in many cases, allowing those convicted of minor crimes to continue to work. “I applaud the counties and the regional jail authority for arriving at a workable, sensible solution to the problem of rising jail costs and overcrowding,” Perdue said.

More details, including some county-by-county numbers, are in the article at The Charleston Gazette.

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• Influential California legislator Todd Spitzer editorializes against the Governor’s early release plans.
• Davidson County NC needs more money to finish the year; health costs soared.
• Vineland NJ refuses a parole check-in center.
• The jail in Union County IN desperately needs expanding but the county has no more money.
• Budget proposals in West Virginia include $2,600+ extra for corrections’ employees.

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• West Virginia’s Regional Jail Authority is being sued for non-payment of hospital bills.
• Philadelphia’s extensive prison system is to add a new juvenile facility.
• The Wyoming Senate is debating parole for terminally-ill inmates.

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