Published: November 11, 2008 09:30 pm      

State officials gather to discuss rising prison population, costs

CHARLESTON — West Virginia’s correctional system gets a once over this week as officials gather to discuss ways to address escalating costs and a prison population expected to grow by 20 percent over the next four years.

This year, the state is expected to spend nearly $156 million to house, feed and provide health care to about 6,000 inmates in work release centers, regional jails and correctional centers across the state. The system is already over capacity as about 1,000 additional state inmates are being housed in one of 10 regional jails.

“There is no silver bullet,” said Division of Criminal Justice Services Director Norb Federspiel. “The expectation is something more will need to be done when this is over.”

Federspiel is helping coordinate the summit at Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park. State and local officials and members of the judiciary were invited to listen to experts discuss national efforts to reform state correctional systems.

Prison costs have nearly doubled in West Virginia since 2000. The Department of Corrections has said the growth is due to a 37 percent increase in inmates and rising health care costs. Health care is expected to amount to 14.5 percent of this year’s budget.

“Money is the key to it all,” said Sen. Shirley Love, who has studied correctional issues in the state Senate for the past 12 years. “It’s not just building, it’s finding the personnel to work in the prisons and the pay to keep them there.”

Any solution, however, must include the state’s regional jail system because the counties can’t keep pace with the daily charges to house persons awaiting trial, the Fayette County Democrat said.

The regional jail system was created after various court rulings declared conditions in the state’s 55-county jail system unconstitutional. Counties now say the daily fees are ruining their budgets.

Ultimately, Love said, state correctional officials will have to present solutions to lawmakers because “the Legislature can’t pull it out of a hat.”

Federspiel expects the state will eventually need to build a new prison so inmates can be taken out of the regional jails.

“I think we need to build a 1,200-bed prison at the minimum,” he said.

Senate Government Organization Chairman Ed Bowman said he expected to hear how the state can fund a new prison.

“Of all the years to look at additional funding, this is the first in many years where we’re really going to have to tighten our belts,” the Hancock County Democrat said.

The state would likely have to sell bonds to build a new prison, he said.

Bowman isn’t sure what a 1,200-bed prison would cost, but the federal government is spending at least $189 million to build a 1,280-bed medium-security prison in McDowell County.

If a prison is built, Bowman said the state should consider putting it the Northern Panhandle on land the Ohio County Commission has said it would donate.

While one prison may be in the state’s future, building a second would depend on how well the state reforms its sentencing laws, work-release programs and other corrections-related issues. The state should examine behavioral health issues and community corrections programs as well, Federspiel said.

“Jail is not necessarily a place where people will change their behavior,” he said. “What we want is a place where people can change their behavior. Just housing people doesn’t do the trick.”

Gov. Joe Manchin will wait and see what recommendations come from the summit before taking action, said spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg.