|
West Virginia corrections officials are looking at ways to to deal with incarcerating more prisoners, including building new prisons.
The number of prison beds needed by the state has increased by leaps and bounds within the past ten years.
West Virginia counties are at their wits end to finance the system, after the state eliminated local cities and counties from having jail facilities.
The latest report said the state's prison population is expected to hit 8,530 inmates by 2012.
By 2017, the population is expected to hit 10,304 if the state doesn't change sentencing, treatment, rehabilitation and housing policies.
The report says since 1991, the Legislature has voted 75 times to increase sentencing laws.
The legislature increased the mandatory minimum sentences for several crimes.
The report found that between 2001 and 2006 sentences grew by as much as 33 months.
The sentence for murder grew from 53.6 months to 86.1 months. Burglary increased 20 months to 44.4 months.
Still, two-thirds of West Virginia inmates were sentenced for nonviolent crimes.
The study says about 20% of the inmates suffer from mental illness, with some estimates claiming over 85% are addicted to alcohol or other drugs.
Marshall County Democrat Jeff Kessler called it a "looming crisis," saying the legislature should at least consider a new 1,200 bed prison which could cost up to $200 million to construct and millions to operate each year.
The Supreme Court ordered the state to build a new maximum security penitentiary in 1986 after declaring conditions in the former penitentiary unconstitutional.
| 
