
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994                    TAG: 9406080448 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: D5    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY ROBERT GUY MATTHEWS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940608                                 LENGTH: RICHMOND

STATE CRIME COMMISSION SEEKS LESS COSTLY ALTERNATIVES TO PRISON

{LEAD} Officials concerned that the state is devoting a growing share of its budget to locking up criminals have begun to press for cheaper alternatives to incarceration.

``Before we build more prisons, we need to get our house in order,'' said Del. A. Victor Thomas of Roanoke.

{REST} Thomas spoke Tuesday at a meeting of the State Crime Commission where prosecutors, law enforcement officers and criminal justice officials shared ideas about reforms.

The commission hopes to lower recidivism rates, design more effective prison programs and lower the rate of incarceration, which threatens to take a larger slice of the state budget each year.

The commission aims to have a comprehensive plan ready to deliver to the General Assembly next year.

In 1990, Virginia annually spent nearly $8,000 per inmate, the fifth-highest cost in the nation, according to a study presented at the meeting by University of Virginia professor William Lucy.

The study also showed that the state was stingy in handing out alternative forms of punishment such as parole and probation.

For every person incarcerated in Virginia, 1.2 people were on probation. That figure is about one-third the national average of 3.5 people on probation for every person incarcerated, the study said.

Current policy ``is starting to break the bank,'' Thomas said. ``We are going to have to start using common sense.''

According to the study, the Department of Corrections' share of the state budget increased by nearly 50 percent from 1980 to 1990, claiming nearly 5 percent of the budget in 1990. At that rate, by the year 2000, corrections would absorb 7 percent of the budget.

Virginia has outstripped the neighboring states of North Carolina, Maryland and West Virginia in money spent on prisoners and offers parole and probation less frequently, according to the study.

Roanoke Del. Clifton Woodrum, a commission member, said he is cautious about the study's findings. ``But it certainly gives us something to look at. We are fast approaching the point where we have to get past slogans and come up with some solutions.''

{KEYWORDS} PRISONS STUDY

by CNB