States' calls for prison cuts raise security concerns

ST. LOUIS — Tony Ferranto worries as he walks his patrol at maximum-security Menard Correctional Center in Illinois.

Only 150 officers stand watch these days over more than 3,500 inmates — about 700 more than capacity. Each guard covers eight inmates when they are corralled into the cafeteria, twice as many as a few years ago. And the governor says more cuts may loom.

"I'm not trying to glorify our job. It has inherent dangers," said Ferranto, a 32-year-old married father of two. "But when you're dealing with these people under these circumstances, it's a bomb ready to go off."

States desperate to save money are cutting back on the massive expense of running prisons — eliminating guards, trimming drug treatment and parole programs and, in two states, releasing inmates early.

State officials stress they will make the cuts carefully, without jeopardizing prison security. Nevada's chief of corrections has suggested saving staff time by putting inmates under lockdown, closing visiting rooms and mothballing security towers, relying on guards patrolling prison perimeters in vehicles.

Nine states are considering closing prisons or cutting staff, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, while others are shedding inmate education programs that researchers say are critical to reducing recidivism.

Kentucky has released more than 2,800 inmates early since last year by allowing prisoners to get more credit than normal for time served. More than 150 violent felons and two dozen sex offenders were initially set free because of a loophole that has since been closed.

A court found the Kentucky early-release program failed to take into account the nature of the crimes or "financial or human costs." Prosecutors had challenged the program. The state Supreme Court will hear the case next month.

The overseer of Kentucky's penal system calls the program "very sound public policy," figuring parolees are more likely to be productive surrounded by family, working and perhaps paying child support and restitution, than in a prison yard.

And Michigan has thinned its prison population from more than 51,000 to about 47,500 through paroles and commutations and an expanded effort to keep parolees from committing new crimes.

The goal is to get the number below 45,000 and close three state prisons and five prison camps to save $120 million. Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration says only low-risk offenders are getting early parole.