The Senate Judiciary Committee will be the first stop for the bill Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has introduced at the State House to address the growing prison population in West Virginia.
“We’re at a critical stage in our prison overpopulation and jail overcrowding situation that just can’t continue to spiral out of control,” said state Military Affairs and Public Safety Secretary Joe Thornton.
The recommendations in the bill are based on a comprehensive report from the Council of State Governments Justice Center.
That report said the overcrowding problems in West Virginia’s prisons could be eased by better assessing those convicted of crimes and improving monitoring for those who are released.
The bill would require a year of mandatory supervision for violent offenders when they are released from prison and release non-violent offenders six months early, putting them into supervised release programs.
One of the main components of the proposal is additional funding for substance abuse treatment programs.
“We’re paying for it in some form or fashion anyway,” Thornton said of the state money that would have to be allocated for such treatment. He estimates the initial investment would be around $3 million.
“We’re letting people out unsupervised and they’re going out and committing new crimes or having technical violations and going back to prison or jail for the very same crimes that were in to begin with,” he said.
State estimates show substance abuse programs cost $1,000 to $7,000 per person, depending on the level of severity. Housing an inmate for a year in a West Virginia prison costs $24,000.
For the past decade, the incarceration rate in West Virginia has been three times the national average, with many prison inmates forced to stay in regional jails because of a lack of space.
According to current estimates, without changes, the state’s prison population is expected to grow by another 24% over the next five years
Thornton says now is the time to look at how the state is dealing with criminals.
“It’s how can we be better? How can we do things better? How can we target substance abuse services for probationers and parolees? How can we streamline our processes internally?”
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are expected to consider the prison overcrowding bill, which was introduced Tuesday, as early as next week.