Huckleberries Online

Lewiston Trib: Batt Was Right About Prison Crowding

Posted by DFO

Feb. 19, 2007 10:14 a.m. • 0 comments

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Idaho should have listened to Phil Batt. When he was governor in the late ‘90s, Batt appointed himself “a committee of one” to look into prison overcrowding. He talked to professionals at every level of the justice system. They said over and over that mandatory minimum sentences are overloading Idaho’s prisons. When Batt relayed this to legislators, they responded immediately — with more mandatory sentences. Now Idaho faces a 34 percent increase in its prison population over the next five years — Tom Henderson, Lewiston Tribune.

Question: Should Idaho and Washington steer away from mandatory sentences for lesser crimes?

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.