SC: Plan to cut sentences for nonviolent offenders could save taxpayers millions

State taxpayers spend millions each year to lock up prisoners for probation violations, driving under suspension and other nonviolent offenses — and the costs are expected to swell by hundreds of millions if nothing is done.

Prison admissions have grown 26 percent in a decade with a large chunk coming not from murderers, rapists and other violent criminals but lower-level offenders.

Forty-nine percent of the state’s inmates are imprisoned for nonviolent offenses, mostly drug and property crimes. Forty-four percent of new inmates have sentences of less than 18 months.

A state already in dire financial shape could be faced with building as many as two new prisons in five years at a cost of $317 million, plus another $141 million a year in operating costs.

Critics blame get-tough sentencing policies of the past two decades — adopted in an atmosphere that made it difficult for lawmakers to be seen as soft on crime.

“Basically, the system got out of control,” said Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Hartsville. “We cannot build our way out of this process. It’s too cost prohibitive.”

A wide-ranging bill in the Legislature would overhaul sentencing, probation and parole laws. Proposed changes are closely based on a nearly yearlong study by the Sentencing Reform Commission, a bipartisan group created by the Legislature.

The central idea that came out of the study was that the state ought to release more low-level offenders to make room for the most violent criminals. It had heavy support from Republicans, who control both houses of the Legislature.

The commission unanimously endorsed all of the recommendations that later made it into the legislation. Four of the 10 members were Republican legislators, including retired police officer Sen. Jake Knotts, who couldn’t be reached for comment. Two other members were Democratic legislators.

Another member was former prosecutor Jon Ozmint, now director of the state Department of Corrections. Ozmint, who couldn’t be reached for comment, referred to the report when asked through a spokesman what would happen if nothing were done about the sentencing laws.

Lawmakers, defense attorneys and law enforcement leaders are just beginning to digest the sprawling bill. But there is broad recognition of the impending fiscal train wreck if nothing is done.

“It is something that, because of our budget predicament, we’ve got to look at,” said Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens.

Martin has joined 13 other Republicans and 11 Democrats as the bill’s co-sponsors. While lawmakers said the bill has broad support, they said that it might be too late in an already packed legislative session to get a version to the governor’s desk this year.

The bill would make dozens of tweaks that would reclassify at least 20 crimes as violent offenses, while helping an untold number of nonviolent offenders avoid prison or get out early.

Mandatory-minimum sentences for many non-trafficking drug crimes would be eliminated, making offenders eligible for probation and parole. That would include third-strike offenders caught dealing meth or cocaine base, which would now carry a minimum 15-year prison sentence.

Work release would become available for those convicted of voluntary manslaughter, kidnapping, carjacking, second-degree burglary, armed robbery and attempted armed robbery. Eligibility would kick in three years before their scheduled release.

Greenville County Sheriff Steve Loftis said that while he hasn’t seen the bill, what he has heard has him concerned.

“If our legislators start looking at softening sentences and early release on some nonviolent offenses, we would be taking a step backward and putting an extra burden on law enforcement,” he said.

Chris Scalzo, a Greenville assistant public defender, said the bill would broaden judges’ sentencing options without taking away the possibility of prison.

“We recognize there are people who need to go to prison,” said Scalzo, who previously testified before the commission. “We just want you to be smart about it, and fair.”

Taxpayers spend $14,000 a year to keep each one of the state’s 24,700 inmates locked up. The population is forecast to rise to nearly 28,000 in five years, according to the commission.

The bill would make it tougher to charge someone with dealing or possessing drugs within half a mile of a school, park or playground. Authorities would have to prove that those charged knew they were in those areas and weren’t just stopped there by officers.

Six-month driver’s license suspensions would no longer be mandatory for those convicted of marijuana crimes, except for offenders under 18.

Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, said any law would have to synchronize with the GOP’s tough-on-crime principles and that his staff would be making sure that “we don’t let something slip past.”

Fair, chairman of the Senate’s Corrections and Penology Committee, is among the co-sponsors.

Also under the bill, first-time drug offenders sent to diversion programs would pay a $25 fee that would go to drug treatment courts statewide. People convicted of driving under suspension could do their jail time at home, as long as they paid the expense.

Jeff Moore, executive director of the South Carolina Sheriffs’ Association, said something needs to be done to slow the increase in prison growth.

“We’re not going to build any prisons in this state anytime soon,” he said.