Batt Will Push For Sentencing Reform Some Penalties May Be Scaled Back To Ease Overcrowding At Prisons

Gov. Phil Batt will make his prison reform recommendations a legislative priority this year, and he said Wednesday he’s finding legislators receptive.

“I’ll be pushing hard for those in the legislative session,” Batt said, adding that the changes would not compromise public safety and should save at least $10 million a year.

The state’s prison population has been skyrocketing, largely because of tough sentencing laws enacted within the past decade. Most of Idaho’s prisoners are nonviolent offenders, and nearly a quarter are serving time for crimes like drunken driving, drug possession and driving without a valid license that aren’t even felonies in many other states.

“We can decrease incarceration costs by adopting sentencing alternatives for those individuals who do not compromise public safety,” Batt said.

Sen. Jim Risch, R-Boise, the Senate’s law-and-order majority leader and a former county prosecutor, said, “The system can be fine-tuned.”

When state lawmakers started their push for extra-tough criminal sentences, it was like casting a net designed to catch a certain size fish, Risch said. “I think we need to examine what has been caught in this net. … It’s possible that the net has snagged some people we didn’t want to be snagged.”

Sen. Gordon Crow, R-Hayden, said he’s looking forward to debating the issue during the legislative session that starts in January.

“We need to make some tough decisions about what’s a threat and what isn’t,” Crow said. “I’ve never seen a bad-check writer lurking in the bushes outside my house at night. We’ve got to get the sense of reality.”

Idaho Correction Department Director Jim Spalding said the governor’s recommendations, particularly the shortening of the boot camp program, will have “signifi cant budget impact, immediate results.”

Spalding, who participated in a panel discussion on the issue at the annual Associated Taxpayers of Idaho conference on Wednesday, said Idaho citizens “are not soft on sanctions, and in fact appear to be on the tougher side.”

He noted that the same legislators who are concerned about Idaho’s prison costs are increasing criminal penalties each session.

New state Appeals Court Judge Alan Schwartzman, who served as a trial judge for 25 years, said he attributes Idaho’s runaway prison growth to expanding population, new crimes created by the Legislature and substance abuse.

“One must ask the question, what are we going to do with this multitude of junkies coming through the court system?” he said. “Is it appropriate to send them all to prison?

“The answer is no.”

Any and all alternatives should be tried, even if some aren’t 100 percent guaranteed to work, Schwartzman said.

“A restrained approach … is not an act of treason,” said Schwartzman, a Batt appointee. “I am in no way condoning drug use … but we must keep our options open.”

Howard Belodoff, an Idaho Legal Aid attorney, said Idaho has the nation’s 36th highest crime rate, but its fifth highest incarceration rate.

“There are other ways to punish people, to deter people,” he said. “We’ve got to come to grips with this … because I don’t know how we’re going to come up with the money.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BATT’S REFORMS Gov. Phil Batt predicts his prison reform recommendations can save $10 million a year. His plan calls for: Eliminating felony penalties for driving without a license and writing small-time bad checks. Shortening the state’s boot camp prison program to allow for more inmates. Making changes in Idaho’s parole procedures. Looking into alternative sentencing for nonviolent offenders.