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Local officials concerned about early release plan
By BRUCE SCHREINER

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Local officials are objecting to a House cost-cutting proposal to speed the release of some nonviolent prisoners, saying counties would take a financial hit.

In a letter to lawmakers this week, several local government groups estimated the early release of state inmates would cost Kentucky's counties more than $20 million a year.

Many of the prisoners are held in county jails. The state pays those jails $31.34 per day to house each state inmate along with a small medical stipend, according to the state Department of Corrections.

The letter said the early release language would have a "dramatic effect" on county jail budgets. The letter also raised public safety concerns with the House-backed plan.

The letter questioned whether the safer and more frugal approach would be to look at the people in jail for misdemeanor crimes before considering early release of felons.

The letter came from the Kentucky Association of Counties, the Kentucky County Judge/Executive Association, the Kentucky Jailers' Association and the Kentucky Magistrates and Commissioners Association, among other groups.

It was circulated one day after the House passed a $17.5 billion, two-year state budget plan that included language calling for increased use of parole for some nonviolent felony offenders. The goal is to accelerate the early release of at least 1,000 nonviolent felony prisoners.

Supporters have said that many of those prisoners are already eligible for parole once they complete substance abuse counseling, but there are waiting lists.

The House budget includes $30 million in projected savings from the accelerated parole process along with an assumption that the state's prison population will be flat.

The letter called jail funding the top fiscal problem facing local governments. It noted that counties expanded jails or built new lockups to house thousands of state inmates.

The groups said they also worried that local governments would bear additional costs if early-released felons were arrested again.

The corrections savings were among spending cuts included in the House budget plan, which also relies on about $371 million in new revenue without raising tax rates. It would rely on such steps as temporarily suspending tax write-offs for businesses reporting losses and accelerating collection of sales taxes.

Lawmakers had to plug a shortfall exceeding $1 billion in crafting a budget for the two years starting July 1. With such a big shortfall, corrections needed to be included in cutbacks, said Rep. Rick Rand, chairman of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee.

"We have to start somewhere," said Rand, D-Bedford. "We can't continue on the road we're on with corrections."

Rand's Senate counterpart said he needed to review the corrections issue.

"We obviously are looking at any measure we can to find some savings," said Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee Chairman Bob Leeper, a Paducah Independent. "...But we obviously don't want to have unintentional consequences."

The Senate is getting its crack at the budget now that the proposal has cleared the House.

Rand said the House leaders would be willing to consider the local officials' concerns when the budget bill ultimately heads to a House-Senate conference committee. Those conferees will try to iron out a final agreement on the spending plan.

The Senate budget committee's work will be in high gear next week as senators put their own imprint on the spending plan.

"I think they'll be changes significant enough that it will take us some time in a conference to come to an agreement," Leeper said.

The budget legislation is House Bill 290.