ELIMINATING THE OVERFLOW: BILL WOULD ALLOW MORE ALTERNATIVES TO JAIL TIME

Missouri's prisons are crowded with inmates, many of them placed there by mandatory sentencing laws.

State Sen. Harold Caskey, D-Butler, says locking up all these lawbreakers is costly.

Missouri spends $500 million a year operating a state prison system that as of September was bulging with nearly 25,000 inmates.

But nearly 53 percent of the inmates are behind bars for nonviolent crimes such as drug offenses and burglaries, a study commissioned by Caskey shows.

The state, he said, in many cases should look to alternative sentences in lieu of jail time.

Such punishment includes strict supervision by probation officers, the use of electronic shackling and requiring criminals to make restitution and attend drug treatment programs.

Caskey said intensive supervision by probation officers costs the state about $13 a day per offender compared to a price tag of about $35 a day to keep a criminal behind bars.

Caskey has proposed legislation that would:

-- Reduce the maximum prison sentence for Class D felonies from five years to four years. That would lower the maximum jail time on felony DWI convictions.

-- Increase the maximum prison sentence for Class C felonies from seven to eight years. Class C felonies include such crimes as stealing more than $750 and second-degree assault.

-- Eliminate mandatory jail time for people convicted of armed criminal action. Some offenders could be placed on probation.

-- Eliminate jury involvement in sentencing in criminal cases, except in capital murder cases.

-- Allow the judges the option of seizing the assets from drug crimes and ordering defendants to go through a drug treatment program.

-- Require judges to follow state sentencing guidelines in drug cases or state in writing why they deviated from those guidelines.

-- Allow the Board of Probation and Parole to alter sentences imposed by judges for drug crimes.

The legislation could come up for a final vote in the Senate this week.

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon opposes the bill. He said the measure sacrifices the state's priority on safety and fighting crime.

"Missouri has made great progress in recent years in correcting the perception that our prison system is simply a revolving door," Nixon said. "I am convinced the current reduction in crime is directly related to the fact that many criminals are no longer on our streets."

The best way to address the prison population is to reduce the number of people committing crimes, Nixon said.

But Caskey said the state must save its prison space for serious offenders.

Caskey said that even with the building of new prisons, Missouri can't keep pace with the rising prison population.

"We're at 160 percent of capacity right now," he said.

It's estimated Missouri's prisons could have 36,000 inmates by April 2004.

Caskey said the state incarcerates an average of three more criminals a day than it releases.

"Sixty percent of folks in prison have been involved in drugs," Caskey said. "Treatment is the key."

In 1997, more than 1,000 people were incarcerated for drug possession convictions. Of those, 27 percent had no prior convictions, Caskey's study found.

Another 793 were jailed for selling drugs. Twenty-nine percent had no prior convictions.

Caskey's study also found an increasing number of people are behind bars for DWI convictions.

On Dec. 31, 1986, only 58 people were in Missouri prison cells for driving while intoxicated. By Sept. 30, 1,000 inmates were serving time for DWI convictions, Department of Corrections figures show. The average prison sentence for those convicted of DWI offenses was 3 years and 9 months.

Caskey said affordable alternatives to jail should be adopted.

"I would rather be building schools than prisons," he said.

Caskey said it costs $13,000 a year to house an inmate, the second lowest in the nation. Other states are annually spending $25,000 to $30,000 an inmate.

Caskey acknowledged his bill won't sit well with some lawmakers.

"Everybody wants to deal with overcrowding, but they don't want to be labeled soft on crime," he said.