Minor offense? No jail time

By Cindy Landrum  

MARCH 30, 2010 7:34 a.m. (0)

South Carolina senators are expected to give final approval today to a bill which overhauls the state’s criminal sentencing guidelines to reduce the number of people sentenced to prison for minor offenses.

The bill, which would then go to the state House of Representatives, 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.

Supporters of the bill, which mirrors recommendations from the South Carolina Sentencing Reform Commission, say the changes would reserve the state’s prison beds for its most violent offenders.

There are nearly 25,000 inmates in South Carolina’s prisons, more than triple the number of inmates in 1978.

At the current rates, the state’s prison population would swell to nearly 28,000 by 2015 and require the construction of one, and possibly two, new prisons.

Most of the growth has come from an increase in the number of prisoners incarcerated for non-violent crimes.

Nearly half of the state’s prisoners were convicted of non-violent offenses such as drug and property crimes.

Drug offenders comprised 6 percent of the prison population 30 years ago. Last year, that had increased to one out of every five prisoners.

The bill reclassifies 24 crimes as violent, 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.

The new guidelines, like those in place in federal court, would allow a reduction of prison sentences for prisoners who provide substantial assistance in an investigation or prosecution of another person.

The bill would provide probationary sentences for drug offenders and those convicted of non-violent crimes, mandate supervision for inmates released from prison to ease the transition into freedom and allow the early release of terminally ill and geriatric inmates.

The bill also calls for increased training of parole and probation officials so they are better able to assess inmates for antisocial behavior and the likelihood they will commit future crimes.