Legislators want lockup rules changed in South Carolina

By Cindy Landrum  

FEBRUARY 17, 2010 9:14 a.m. (0)

A bill overhauling the state’s criminal justice sentencing system is expected to get its first look by lawmakers by the end of the month.

A bill introduced by state Sen. Gerald Malloy, a Hartsville Democrat who headed the South Carolina Sentencing Reform Commission, would classify more crimes as violent, allow drug users and other nonviolent criminals to receive probation instead of prison time and allow some geriatric and terminally ill prisoners to be released on special parole.

The bill is designed to reserve the state’s prison beds for its most violent offenders.

The bill mirrors the recommendations the commission made earlier this month.

Since 1978, South Carolina’s prison population has more than tripled to nearly 25,000, the commission found.

If nothing changes, the prison population is expected to swell to nearly 28,000 by 2015 and require the construction of one, and possibly two, new prisons.

Prisoner population growth has been fueled by an increase in prisoners being incarcerated for non-violent crimes.

Nearly 50 percent of the state’s prisoners are non-violent offenses such as drug and property crimes.

Thirty years ago, drug offenders comprised 6 percent of the prison population. Last year, one out of every five prisoners was there for drug offenses.

The bill would:

Reclassify 24 crimes as violent offenses, including spousal sexual battery, detonating a destructive device resulting in death, aggravated voyeurism, boating under the influence resulting in death and putting destructive or injurious materials on a highway resulting in death.

Allow a reduction of prison sentence for prisoners who provide substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person.

Assess inmates on probation and parole for antisocial behaviors, criminal friends, dysfunctional families and substance abuse problems and respond with treatments to reduce their likelihood to commit future crimes.

Allow drug offenders and other non-violent offenders to receive probationary sentences instead of prison time.

Mandate supervision for inmates who are released from prison to ease their transition into freedom.

Release terminally ill and geriatric inmates at the petition of the Department of Corrections director.