As the three-day interim session of
the West Virginia Legislature began Monday morning, the Joint Standing
Committee on the Judiciary met to receive an update on the Justice Reinvestment
Act in the state.
With the prison populations rising
and an estimated $200 million slated for construction and $83 million for
operations projected for 2014-2018 to account for the increase, the state
partnered with the Council of State Governments Justice Center to research
options to reduce that spending and increase public safety. From the
partnership SB 371 was created and passed in 2013.
Although not all of the policy in
the legislation has been implemented, reports already indicate positive
results.
“It’s been a pleasant surprise that
we’ve seen a decline [in prison population] much more rapidly than first
indicated,” Jim Rubenstein, Commissioner of the West Virginia Division of
Corrections said. “All of Senate Bill 371 has not been implemented so I think
it’s very encouraging.”
According to the WVDOC statistics,
the overall inmate population decreased by 3.5 percent in FY2014.
Part of the strategy in the
legislation to decrease sentenced inmate population includes policy changes by
the state Parole Board which have lead to more releases from WVDOC custody,
increased use of graduated sanction for parolees in lieu of revocation and a
slower annual increase in the number of commitments from Circuit Court,
possibly due to the increased use of the graduations sanctions.
“Instead of getting them in $26,000
per year prison beds, it gives the opportunity to work with those individuals
who they haven’t committed additional or new
crimes,” Rubenstein said. “We have
a high percentage of individuals who have substance abuse, alcohol, drug
related problems.”
Stein said these individuals are
still under supervision –just not within a prison– and are mostly hard-working,
good people but are different when dealing with addictions. Part of addressing
public safety when dealing with these situations is strengthening Community
Correction programs.
“It makes them very viable for the
Parole Board to parole somebody even before they’ve completed some programs withing
the Division of Corrections that they can complete in a community based
program,” Rubenstein said. “It straightens those programs, puts a real
consistency across the board.”
Ultimately, Rubenstein said the
goal of the initiative is to turn the prison population into lawful,
contributing members of society.
“Ninety some percent of the
individuals are going to come back into society at some point or another,” he
said. “We take our role very serious in preparing them to come back and be
successful, and reduce recidivism, and that they don’t re-offend, and that they
don’t come back and they become law-abiding, tax-paying citizens.”
As more initiatives of SB 371 are
implemented, Rubenstein projects more success.
“I’ll be surprised if we don’t see
some very positive results from 371 and these initiatives, especially compared
to years ago when there was that discussion of ‘Oh, are we going to have to
build a new prison?’ Right now, I don’t even see that as even being an issue of
concern because we’re making strides in the right areas.”
