JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- By at least one gauge, tough criminal sentencing laws Missouri enacted in the 1990s have worked: More offenders are going to prison and staying there longer.

In 1993, the average daily population in Missouri was 15,409 inmates. As of last year, that figure had nearly doubled to 29,871.

But putting and keeping more offenders behind bars has come at a price.

Part of that cost is financial, with a substantial rise in the amount Missouri spends on prisons. But there are social costs as well.

Missouri Supreme Court Judge Michael A. Wolff said 56 percent of those in state penitentiaries are there for nonviolent offenses -- primarily drug-related crimes. Prison often isn't conducive to correcting the behavior that landed such inmates behind bars in the first place, he said, and can be counterproductive.

"You want to punish these persons, but you have to understand most of these people are going to be back in their communities within five years," Wolff said. "The question becomes how do you want them back?"

To address the financial and social aspects, an effort is moving forward in the Missouri Legislature to re-examine the corrections system.

The Missouri Department of Corrections cost taxpayers $197.1 million to run a decade ago. With a boom in prison construction to keep up with the rising inmate population, the department's budget has ballooned to $565.8 million for the current fiscal year -- a 187 percent increase from 1993. Gov. Bob Holden has requested $589.4 million for corrections for the upcoming fiscal year.

In a recent independent report on the state budget, analyst Jim Moody said the rising cost of the corrections system is contributing to the state's overall financial problems. The spending demands of incarceration, he said, will only get worse.

At the current rate of growth of four to five new inmates per day, Missouri will have to build a new 1,596-bed prison every year, said Moody, who served as state budget director during Gov. John Ashcroft's administration. Those prisons would cost an estimated $80 million each to build and equip plus $30 million a year each to operate.

"With Missouri's tight budget outlook, it is unlikely this amount of money will be available for corrections, and if it is available, it will come at the cost of cuts to other programs," Moody said.

State Rep. Kevin Engler, R-Farmington, largely agrees with the report's findings on corrections spending, except he believes future prisons will be even more costly to build and run than Moody suggests.

Engler, who sits on the House committee that oversees the corrections budget, said his feelings about tough sentences for non-violent offenders have changed.

"I was one of those who used to say put them away forever," Engler said. "But we can't build a new prison every year. We have got to look at some alternatives for non-violent offenders."

Caskey's suggestion

During his 26 years as a legislator, state Sen. Harold Caskey, D-Butler, helped a write a large portion of the state's criminal code. With only two years before term limits force his retirement, Caskey has made the costs of the corrections system a personal priority.

Caskey is sponsoring a bill that he says would save Missouri prisons 1,958 beds and $25 million in operational costs if in effect today.

The measure would lower the maximum sentences for lesser, non-violent felonies and give judges discretion on whether stricter sentences for persistent drug offenders should apply on a case-by-case basis.

It would also encourage statewide uniformity in sentencing, which in some cases varies widely from judge to judge. Under the bill, judges would have to consider state sentencing guidelines. They would be free to deviate from those recommendations, but would have to explain their reasons in writing.

During a hearing on the bill last week, several members of the Missouri Prosecuting Attorneys Association testified against portions of Caskey's bill. Their chief objection is that the bill would lower the mandatory minimum sentences for cases of armed criminal action not involving firearms, explosives or large knives.

The charge of armed criminal action was originally intended to stiffen punishments for gun-related offenses. However, prosecutors today broadly apply the law and use it as a bargaining chip in plea negotiations.

"If you ask 100 prosecuting attorneys what is their favorite and most potent statute, all 100 would say armed criminal action," said Cass County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Koster.

Caskey has removed that section of the bill and is working with the prosecutors on compromise language that addresses some of their other concerns. The measure, as modified, is expected to be debated by the full Senate within the next two weeks.

The bill enjoys the support of the corrections department, as well as Judge Wolff.

Judicial opinions

During a recent forum with members of the media, Wolff and two of his colleagues, Judge William Ray Price Jr. and Chief Justice Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., discussed alternative sentencing methods.

At an average cost of $36 per inmate per day, Missouri "does incarceration on the cheap" despite the growing bite it takes out of the budget, Wolff said. Probation, however, only costs $4 to $7 per inmate per day.

Price touted drug courts as an innovative idea that has proved effective in those counties that haven chosen to adopt it.

Under the drug-court system, which is currently in place in some Southeast Missouri counties, offenders are subject to supervised probation and intensive judicial oversight. Substance-abuse treatment is also a component. By successfully completing the program, participants avoid prison.

Of the more than 2,000 drug-court graduates to date, only 6 percent have been re-arrested, Price said.

However, because of the strict requirements and supervision embedded in the program, the drug court graduation rate is only 50 percent.

Limbaugh said drug court isn't for all offenders. They have to honestly want to get their lives in order.

"Some attorneys tell their clients, 'Do the time. It will be easier for you,'" Limbaugh said.

Wolff said drug court judges essentially act as mothers.

"You have got to go see mom every week and tell her how you're doing," Wolff said. "She makes you get a job and makes you do this and that."

A former assistant prosecutor in Cape Girardeau County, state Rep. Scott Lipke said a balance must be struck between punishing lawbreakers and ensuring that there is room in Missouri prisons for those who most deserve to be there. Alternatives such as drug courts help achieve that, he said.

"The sentiment out there in the public is they don't want to see a violent offender let out early so a new non-violent offender can be put in," said Lipke, R-Jackson.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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