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Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice said Thursday that proposed changes to the state's probation and parole system designed to reduce prison populations and save the state millions of dollars will likely blunt the effectiveness of incarceration as a deterrent to crime.
A state task force recommended the changes, and a House committee has been studying the proposals with an eye toward new legislation when lawmakers return to the Jefferson City next month.
The sentencing and corrections working group made a number of recommendations, including a plan that would allow people on probation or parole to have their supervision period reduced by 30 days for every 30 days of compliance with rehabilitation requirements.
In addition, the panel believes probation and parole officers should be allowed to impose brief jail stays, rather than prison time, for violations that would be limited to no more than 48 hours for the first violation and capped at 15 days.
A third recommendation provides for 120 days of "shock" incarceration when probation is revoked for people convicted of nonviolent felonies who commit technical (non-criminal) violations.
The task force believes its recommendations could save $7.7 million to $16.6 million over five years and cut the prison population by 245 to 677 inmates. The state Department of Corrections currently holds just under 31,000 people behind bars and has an annual budget of $600 million.
The problem, said Rice, is that at least in the 4th Judicial Circuit, which includes Nodaway County, most of the suggested measures are already in place, and that minor infractions are seldom enough to send probationers back behind bars.
"Probation and Parole already has a tremendous amount of discretion," he said, adding that pre-sentencing procedures are carefully designed to assign appropriate punishment in relation to the crimes committed.
"If someone is an abuser, is using methamphetamine, steals — terrorizes our community — they should be punished," Rice said. "We give them a sentence, and the sentence should be followed."
Asked about shock time and other specific panel recommendations, Rice said he sees little difference between the proposed reforms and what is already happening in local courtrooms.
"We already do that right now, to be honest with you," said Rice, who said he seldom seeks a return to prison for persons guilty of minor probation and parole infractions.
"If someone flunks a drug test, and the probation officers tells me, 'He messed up but otherwise he's compliant,' that person is not going back to prison," Rice said.
Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice said Thursday that proposed changes to the state's probation and parole system designed to reduce prison populations and save the state millions of dollars will likely blunt the effectiveness of incarceration as a deterrent to crime.
A state task force recommended the changes, and a House committee has been studying the proposals with an eye toward new legislation when lawmakers return to the Jefferson City next month.
The sentencing and corrections working group made a number of recommendations, including a plan that would allow people on probation or parole to have their supervision period reduced by 30 days for every 30 days of compliance with rehabilitation requirements.
In addition, the panel believes probation and parole officers should be allowed to impose brief jail stays, rather than prison time, for violations that would be limited to no more than 48 hours for the first violation and capped at 15 days.
A third recommendation provides for 120 days of "shock" incarceration when probation is revoked for people convicted of nonviolent felonies who commit technical (non-criminal) violations.
The task force believes its recommendations could save $7.7 million to $16.6 million over five years and cut the prison population by 245 to 677 inmates. The state Department of Corrections currently holds just under 31,000 people behind bars and has an annual budget of $600 million.
The problem, said Rice, is that at least in the 4th Judicial Circuit, which includes Nodaway County, most of the suggested measures are already in place, and that minor infractions are seldom enough to send probationers back behind bars.
"Probation and Parole already has a tremendous amount of discretion," he said, adding that pre-sentencing procedures are carefully designed to assign appropriate punishment in relation to the crimes committed.
"If someone is an abuser, is using methamphetamine, steals — terrorizes our community — they should be punished," Rice said. "We give them a sentence, and the sentence should be followed."
Asked about shock time and other specific panel recommendations, Rice said he sees little difference between the proposed reforms and what is already happening in local courtrooms.
"We already do that right now, to be honest with you," said Rice, who said he seldom seeks a return to prison for persons guilty of minor probation and parole infractions.
"If someone flunks a drug test, and the probation officers tells me, 'He messed up but otherwise he's compliant,' that person is not going back to prison," Rice said.
If Missouri is serious about lowering prison populations and reducing Department of Corrections costs, Rice said, it will provide adequate funding for "drug court," which he said has been shown to lower recidivism rates by as much as 30 percent.
Drug court is an alternative-sentencing program that requires drug offenders to adhere to a tightly controlled and monitored program that includes counseling, multiple weekly rehab and AA sessions, frequent testing and strict behavior goals.
Properly administered, Rice said, the program leaves offenders with little time to hang out with drug-using friends or lapse into a destructive or criminal lifestyle.
Such programs are expensive, and funding has grown increasingly scarce in recent years. But, said Rice, "It's not as expensive as the DOC."
The working group found that most people who are sent to prison in Missouri are admitted because their probation or parole was revoked. In 2010, revocations for technical violations of probation and parole accounted for more than 7,800 admissions to Missouri prisons, which was 43 percent of the total admissions last year. On average, those prisoners spent 10 months behind bars.
"We are trying to achieve better results for the safety of the Missouri people at a lower expense," said State Supreme Court Judge William Ray Price, who served on the working group. "It's not a question about being soft on crime or hard on crime. It's a question of being smart on crime to get the best results for our people at the lowest expense."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
