Weighing Cost, Benefit Of �Time Off� For Inmates

PROVIDENCE � When the steady rise in population counts at Rhode Island prisons hit an all time high of 4,000 last fall [that's a single unit in Texas], Corrections Director A.T. Wall knew the system was headed for trouble. Prison services �at all levels� were strained and the facilities were running out of beds. Just a few months earlier, corrections officials had obtained a court waiver allowing them to increase the number of inmates at the Adult Correctional Institutions, but still the daily census continued to rise.

The result was a sweeping proposal now making its way through the General Assembly to change, for the first time in almost 50 years, the way the state awards inmates time off their sentences for good behavior and participation in rehabilitation programs. Wall calls it �a more responsible way to moderate the effects of overcrowding than emergency releases� while encouraging better inmate behavior.

[I can just hear them formulating how they will call this "smart" on crime, not just "tough." Perhaps some legislators from Texas could assist them with the spin.]