[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 142 (Wednesday, September 13, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S13549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

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                   TIME TO FACE THE TRUTH ON PRISONS

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, the recent news that we now have 
over a million people in our State and Federal prisons, and over half a 
million in our local and county jails, is unprecedented in this country 
and perhaps unprecedented in any country.
  We have to be looking for other answers than more and more prisons. 
And there are much better answers, both from the viewpoint of the 
dollar and from the viewpoint of humanity.
  States are compounding the problem with passage of various 
legislation, such as ``three strikes and you are out'' in California.
  A Chicago Tribune editorial commented recently on the State picture 
in Illinois. What it is really commenting on is about an attitude that 
exists, not only in Illinois, but in the Nation.
  And what the editorial says makes a good deal of sense.
  I ask that it be printed in the Record at this point.
  The editorial follows:
               [From the Chicago Tribune, Aug. 28, 1995]

                   Time To Face the Truth on Prisons

       Now that Gov. Jim Edgar has signed the state's new truth-
     in-sentencing legislation, someone is going to have to figure 
     out how to make it work before there is a disaster in the 
     prison system. The governor is willing, but the 
     responsibility belongs squarely with the General Assembly 
     that created this time bomb.
       When the legislature passed the law, it is a pity that it 
     wasn't accompanied by truth-in-legislation legislation to 
     give the public an honest portrayal of the costs. Instead, it 
     pandered to the popular appeal of getting tougher on serious 
     crime without regard to the consequences and without 
     providing the resources to handle the added burden on the 
     prisons.
       Among other things, the law requires that convicted 
     murderers must serve their entire sentences and those 
     convicted of other serious crimes--attempted murder, rape, 
     kidnapping, armed robbery--must serve at least 85 percent. 
     That certainly resonates strongly with a public continually 
     outraged by stories of violent offenders who serve half their 
     time and commit other heinous acts when released. And 
     certainly prison space and stern punishment ought to be 
     reserved primarily for the worst offenders.
       Truth in sentencing, however, focuses on getting felons 
     into prison and keeping them there longer; it ignores the 
     impact and fosters a myth that there will be no effect on the 
     general prison population.
       There will be a dramatic effect. According to the state 
     Department of Corrections, it will add the equivalent of some 
     3,800 inmates at a cost of $320 million over the next 10 
     years--an impact that will escalate in succeeding years. And 
     these will be the hardest cases, stuffed into a prison system 
     that already is seriously overcrowded and may be out of space 
     next year.
       Anticipating this, Edgar proposed adding some 4,800 cells 
     to the system, but the legislature--primarily because of 
     Democratic opposition--cynically rebuffed his request for 
     bonding authority. In short, the legislature was eager to 
     flood the prisons with new inmates but not to pay the bill.
       Now Edgar is proposing a different strategy; contracting 
     with private firms to build a new prison and two work camps 
     and add cells to eight existing prisons. The state would 
     lease the facilities and run them.
       There is merit to the idea in that it could get the job 
     done, and the governor deserves credit for trying. But the 
     answer is not some gambit to bypass the legislature; it is 
     for the legislature to face its obligation.
       First it must concede what it is not telling the public; 
     that for every prisoner pushed into the system, someone must 
     be pushed out the other end--perhaps sooner than the public 
     will tolerate. Or the overcrowding will get worse, raising 
     the risk of inmate violence and riots, and ultimately 
     inviting federal court intervention to force Illinois to 
     clean up its act.
       If more prison space is the solution, the General Assembly 
     must provide the money. If not, it must expand the concept of 
     innovative alternative sentencing for non-violent offenders 
     and revisit the state criminal code--reducing the penalties 
     for lesser offenses and giving judges more discretion.
       Truth in sentencing is an easy answer to serious concerns. 
     There is no easy way out of the problems that it will create, 
     and it's time to stop the pretense.
     

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