West Virginia’s Rising Prison Population Is Focus of Symposium
Staff ReportExperts from across the United States will meet at Stonewall Jackson Resort next week to discuss a comprehensive solution to West Virginia's rising prison population that is threatening to overburden the state's public safety system. A symposium Wednesday through Friday will bring together the leadership of the state's three branches of government to discuss and seek solutions to this highly complex problem.
"The state's rising prison population is quickly outstripping our capacity to house, feed, are and counsel the inmates placed in our custody by the courts," Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety Secretary James W. Spears said.
The symposium, hosted by DMAPS, will include a review of the problem from a national perspective as well as looking at West Virginia's specific hurdles. Criminal justice experts from across the nation will present ideas and best practices from states which have faced similar situations.
"We have problems with overcrowding in the prisons and we are facing the prospect of having to build a whole lot of prison beds," said Norbet Federspiel, director of West Virginia Division of Criminal Justice Services. "We are hoping that we can identify activities that will keep us from having to build as many beds as otherwise may be necessary, by bringing in some national experts who have also faced prison over crowding issues and come up with some strategies for dealing with them."
The Division of Corrections currently has more than 6,100 state-sentenced inmates assigned to its care with a little more than 5,000 inmates occupying all available bed space in correctional facilities statewide. Currently, more than 1,100 inmates are housed in the state's regional jail system awaiting bed space in a correctional facility, a number that continues to grow at a constant pace.
"We are not anticipating any change in the number of jails," Federspiel said. "The strategies could conceivably impact how the jails are used. If we were to build enough beds in the prison system, obviously we would be removing a whole lot of people from the regional jails who are awaiting transport to the prison and that would resolve some of their issues."
Federspiel said the whole idea of the symposium is to facilitate an upper level policy discussion about what can be done to modify the rise in prison requirements.
"It's really a look at the entire structure of sentencing within the criminal justice system and how you use resources," Federspiel said. "If you really look at the structure of all the available resources, then it's a matter of where do you best send certain offenders and is there a way to therefore minimize the number of prison beds required."
According to Huttonsville Correction Center Warden Teresa Ward, the prison houses 1,118 inmates, which increased from 914 in June 2004 when 204 beds were added to the facility.
"When someone paroles or is discharged, we fill the bed in two or three days," Ward said. "We are always at capacity."
Individual counties are responsible for paying the incarceration fees for the inmates housed at the regional jail system, according to Mike Martin, administrator of the Tygart Valley Regional Jail.
Randolph County's inmate housing costs is a "great expense," said County Commissioner Mike Taylor explaining that the county spends an average of $70,000 each month. For the 2008-2009 fiscal year, commissioners budgeted $900,000 for inmate fees, Taylor said.
The commissioners receive a bill for the number of days an inmate is in jail. The cost of $47.53 per inmate per day has decreased within the last six months from $48.50, Taylor said.
For September, Randolph County received a bill for 1,369 inmate days, which totaled $65,068.57, according to Taylor. In July, Randolph County paid $81,181 for the individuals behind bars at the jail, Taylor said.
Capacity at the Tygart Valley Regional Jail is 288, but recently the average daily population is approximately 370, Martin said. To combat the jail over population, some cells house two inmates, Martin said. Each person is housed according to whether they are incarcerated for a sentence or pre-trial misdemeanor or felony.
Community Corrections and home confinement have helped keep costs low for housing inmates, Taylor said. Currently there are 40 individuals participating in the community corrections program. Each month the program saves Randolph County thousands, Taylor said.
Tucker County has been keeping its regional jail inmates to a minimum.
"Unless it is absolutely necessary, we try not to send them (Tucker County arrests) to the regional jail," Tucker County Magistrate Riley H. Barb said.
This does not stop the need for Tucker County Clerk Sherry Simmons to budget $120,000 annually for inmate costs. Between July 1 and Oct. 31, these costs to the county have totaled $21,310.
"If I feel the public is not in danger and the defendant is not a flight risk, we will let them out on bond," Barb said.
Barb has seen the number of offenders who come before him and fellow Tucker County Magistrate Carol D. Irons increase in the past couple months.
Barb said he looks for more white collar crimes in the future as a result of the state of the job market and economy.
Barbour County Administrator Chuck Foley said the county is currently responsible for 27 inmates incarcerated at the TVRJ. He said the county typically averages about 15 inmates each month.
"Right now, we have the most we have ever had in the regional jail," Foley said. "At this pace, we'll probably spend $175,000 more than we spent last year. It takes away from other programs and other projects we could be doing."
Foley said the county has spent approximately $90,000 on regional jail fees since July.
Lewis County Commissioner Agnes Queen said a typical monthly bill from the Regional Jail Authority runs between $25,000 and $30,000. She said the bill does not list how many prisoners were housed, nor the number of days each prisoner spent at a facility.
Queen said the county only receives a bill that lists the number of days prisoners sent there by Lewis County authorities spent in a regional facility. Prisoners from Lewis County usually are held in the Central Regional Jail in Braxton County.
According to Upshur County Administrator William Parker, the county is still pumping a lot of money into the regional jail system to house prisoners. However, some relief to the budget and come with alternative sentencing programs.
During the first four months of the current fiscal year, Upshur County has spent an average $143,496 for regional jail fees with an average of 25 prisoners per month, Parker said. During fiscal year 2007-2008 that ended June 30, Upshur County spent $434,256 for jail fees.
"One thing that helps us is the fact of alternative sentencing options," he said. "The prosecuting attorney's office in Upshur County does an excellent job in finding programs for some people that keeps the jail fees down."
One such alternative is the Community Corrections Program (CCP) operated at the 26th Judicial Circuit Community Correction Day Report Center in Buckhannon. The program offers several programs for participants including educational aid, substance abuse evaluation, mental health needs and job/life skills.
, domestic violence intervention, community service and home confinement, he said.
The Lewis/Upshur Day report Center is located on Hall Road next to Fred Eberle Technical Center.
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11-09-08 12:03 PM
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NOTE: system blocked "dot org" for sites listed below with asterisks
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11-09-08 11:58 AM
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The most sensible solution to this dilemma is to repeal drug prohibition or, at the very least, treat drug use and addiction as a public health issue rather than criminal justice issue. Politicians love to use drug users as scapegoats but the taxpayer needs to be informed that incarceration and post-release supervision is expensive--VERY EXPENSIVE. I recommend a visit to the sentencingproject**** and stopthe drugwar**** web sites
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