MISSOURI WATCH: A SAD AND USELESS WASTE

Every time I read another announcement of a new prison I am enraged. And saddened. And questioning.

Enraged because the announcement of a new prison in Missouri means that the tax dollars of average citizens are going to construct new buildings for other citizens who are neither average nor worth what they cost.

Saddened because the expenditure of funds for prisons means that some deserving family will be short-changed in diminished state services, some mentally retarded child will receive less-than-adequate care and treatment, and some bright young deserving student may not be able to enroll in a college that can mean the difference between an ordinary and an exceptional life.

Questioning because it seems that much of the reflex action to build more and more prisons to house more and more criminals is not the answer to a problem that has plagued our society far too long.

There are five new Department of Corrections' prisons or prison additions now approved and funded to meet the ever-increasing number of newly sentenced convicts. At the same time, the state prison agency is planning two new facilities while contemplating the need for a third one.

The totals for all of this new construction are staggering, almost unbelievable. To begin with, Missourians are now spending more than a quarter of a billion dollars every year just to maintain and operate their present 15 penal units. When the new units go on line, the cost will inch upward to something above one-third of a billion annually.

Missouri's current- spending binge for new cells will reach one-half a billion by the time the last brick is in place. And the figure will exceed that when either two or three new prisons go on line in the next couple of years.

The massed sum of this spending will reach something just short of 1 billion in the next fiscal year.

Yet the number of new convicts arriving in state custody is staggering, frightening. We're now getting about six new convicts every day, and the total number exceeds the population in 53 percent of the state's counties. Sixty-one counties have less residents than Missouri's prison population.

And the cost of all this is horrific. It costs us more to house a convicted criminal than it does to educate a college student whose life will contribute to his or her home state in a hundred meaningful ways. The differential is plain embarrassing. We currently spend $9,201 to keep one convict for one year, while we spend only $6,9080 annually to educate a student on one of the four campuses of the University of Missouri. Missouri spends even less -- $5,306 -- for a student attending one of our five fine regional universities, and we spend only $3,102 each year for a student at one of Missouri's 12 community colleges.

Where does it say we have to spend more to keep a criminal locked up for a year than it does to educate a bright young man or woman who will in turn benefit society and contribute tax dollars to meet the future costs of government? I don't find the requirement in the 1945 Constitution, nor is it ever mentioned in any of Missouri's revised statutes. As a matter of fact, Missouri chooses to spend less on its convicts than any other state in the nation.

And I suggest now is the time-for Missourians to come up with ways we can spend even less than we have been.

For starters, let's take a figure provided by the state's Department of Corrections. Forty-eight percent of all the more than 18,000 convicts we now have behind bars are classified as "non-violent." This means they are serving sentences for crimes that are not considered violent or that they convicted one violent crime under unusual circumstances, such as under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

These 48 percent "non-violent" criminals are placed in institutions that are remarkably similar to those housing violent men and women. There is very little per diem difference between housing a three-time convicted killer and housing someone who has been convicted of burglary without a weapon.

While there is little cost differential, there is a world of difference in the criminal himself. One is a serious threat to public health and safety. The other, given different circumstances, could be a model citizen. Likewise, there is a great deal of difference between a convict who is a substance abuser and one who has no addiction.

All four categories of prisoners, however, cost the state just about the same to maintain every day, every year, every decade. Because we are spending so many tax dollars just to house, feed and clothe all of these prisoners, however, there is never any money remaining to treat the drug offender, to medicate the psychotic killer, to educate the non-violent burglar or adequately supervise any upon their release.

With sufficient support and start-up funding, we can separate the non-violent prisoners and place them in quarters that are far less restrictive. During World War II we placed hundreds of thousands in well-guarded but inexpensive camps, while providing them with essential services as well as educational facilities. The same services can be supplied to non-violent prisoners, which in turn would halt the highly expensive construction projects that are now being proposed.

Some of the money saved could be used to re-educate non-violent prisoners, equipping them for productive lives after release. Some savings could be allocated to other essential state services, such as local schools and higher education. And other savings could be utilized to provide treatment for substance abuse.

Missouri appears to be building new prisons so rapidly that no one seems to have noticed there are better options.

~Jack Stapleton is a Kennett columnist who keeps tabs on government.