Gov. Mark Sanford joined House members and senators Wednesday in pushing for passage of a major sentencing reform bill.
Supporters say if lawmakers don’t pass the bill, growth in the state prison population will force the state to build a new prison that would cost about $317 million. "We just cannot afford to build our way out of this problem," says Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Hartsville, one of the main sponsors of the bill.
Under the bill, non-violent criminals would no longer take up space in state prisons. They would go through alternative programs instead, like drug treatment programs for people convicted of simple drug possession.
That would leave prison beds for violent criminals and delay the need to build a new prison.
"This is not soft on crime, this legislation. What it's soft on is the taxpayer," says Sen. Chip Campsen, R-Isle of Palms. Besides the $317 million it would cost to build a new prison, running it would cost about $141 million over five years.
State Corrections Director Jon Ozmint says, "Over four to five years, the taxpayers of this state are going to be spending less on prison cells and making sure that those prison cells are occupied by the right people."
Gov. Sanford and supporters say the bill would also make the state safer by reducing crime. Right now, about one-third of prison inmates commit another crime and end up back in prison within three years. Under this bill, prisoners would no longer “max out”, meaning they finish their sentences and walk away. Instead they would have a more closely supervised transition back into society.
The bill would also re-classify some crimes as violent. Victims' advocate Laura Hudson says, "I feel like crime victims got a good deal. We have a reclassification of some misdemeanors, like lewd act on a minor, that are now going to be considered a violent crime, which opens up a lot of issues in prison and how they'll be treated and how much time they serve."
The bill has passed the full Senate, passed a House subcommittee Tuesday and is now in a House committee.
To read the full commission report, click here.
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