SPARTANBURG, SC (WSPA) – Proposed prison reform legislation is up for debate in South Carolina as four bills suggest reducing sentences for certain inmates.
“My concern is not to rush. This is a situation we need to look at,” said 7th Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette, who serves Spartanburg and Cherokee counties. “It’s dangerous to put them back out on the streets.”
State Sen. Karl Allen of Greenville proposed legislation he said is necessary for the safety of the state’s prisons.
“In the great state of South Carolina, you have individuals going inside that should one day be allowed to be released and come home to their family, to their children and to society to be productive citizens,” Allen said. “Because of understaffing within the Department of Corrections, they are not coming home except in a box. We’ve seen that at Broad River, we’ve seen that at Lee Correctional. We’ve seen attacks at Perry.”
His proposed legislation reduces the time required for “no parole” offenses from 85 percent to 65 percent for victimless crimes like drug offenders.
For more violent crimes he suggests reducing sentences to 77 percent if the inmate completes rehab and re-entry programs, has no major disciplinary infractions and wasn’t convicted of murder.
“This is just another smart step where an individual has substantially paid their debt to the victims, have paid their debt to society, and have demonstrated that they are not a threat,” Senator Allen said. “Keep in mind that they get out at 85 percent anyway. We’re slightly allowing them incentives to help control their behavior and help the Department of Corrections manage the population.”
It’s one of the bills that Barnette is worried about.
“Two of the house bills (HB3322 and HB3580) have that if you’ve served 15 years you can apply, no matter if you’re given 45, 50 years, 60 year sentences, you can apply to the court. The nightmare for that is, obviously, we have active cases right now, we have victims waiting,” Barnette said.
He says his main concern is public safety.
“On drug offenses, I think we need to talk about that, but anything involving kidnapping, child CSC’s things like that it’s a scary thing,” he said. “I hope they do well. I really do when people come out of the prison system but unfortunately the history is 20 – 25 percent are going to reoffend. They’re going to be back in our county jails, back in the court system and like I said it’s going to cost us more money in the long run.”
He says victims will have to relive the trauma if these inmates are let out sooner.
An example he gave was victims who were sexually abused as children.
“Take for example a child CSC. That child was small – 6 or 7 years old – 15 years down the road they get this notice. They’ve got their lives back together and everything, never thought they’d have to deal with this situation,” said Barnette. “Now they get a notice they have to appear in front of a judge that may not have been here when that sentence was carried out, the same prosecutor may not be here, law enforcement may have changed. I really feel back because this is not fair to them [victim]. They were told this is going to be the sentence. These people need to stay in to that point.”
Allen maintains that the inmates released would be vetted first, and remain under community supervision after their release up until 85 percent of their sentence.
“You find your solicitors tryin to play up on the game that they play in court – and that is to try to scare the public,” said Allen, adding only a “manageable” amount of inmates would be let out earlier. “There’s not a mass release. You’re talking less than 500 inmates.”
Barnette said the bills make at least 3,465 no-parole inmates eligible for release at an earlier date and 396 of them would immediately be eligible for release.
“I’d rather put the money into the prisons, rehabilitation, try to help in that way,” Barnette said. “I think just letting people out of jail, that’s going to lead to more problems, making more dangerous communities here throughout the state of South Carolina.”
