PRISON POLICY FLIES IN THE FACE OF REASON

Monday's editorial on the recent flap over the Department of Corrections plan to put a day reporting center in Macon provides a useful view into the faulty logic now afflicting Georgia's criminal justice process.  While it's true that the get-tough policies of then Gov.  Zell Miller are directly responsible for the mess the state prison system is in today, it is utterly preposterous to believe that a new mood of leniency is the solution.

This is precisely the philosophy behind the proposed day reporting center, the purpose of which is to allow certain offenders to avoid prison time by instead mandating daily visits to a probation facility, where counseling, drug treatment and other types of supervision would take the place of punishment.  Advocates claim the chief benefit of this plan is that the offender remains on the streets, thereby helping to ease the prison overcrowding crises.

The only problem with this help is that it comes from the wrong end.  Prison overcrowding is caused by the prisoners who are already in prison, not the ones who have yet to enter.  A much more sensible strategy would be to identify prisoners currently in the system who have been successfully rehabilitated and release them.  Georgia's prisons are virtually packed with such offenders, many of whom have already served long years but will never get a fair chance at release because of the "violent" label they earned at conviction.

The essential unfairness of this process of labeling is that labels are permanent, while the people they get attached to are capable of change.  An offender who committed a violent offense 15 years ago and has been locked up ever since presents a far greater likelihood of leading a lawful life upon release than the drug addict who broke into someone's home yesterday to feed his habit.  Under the day reporting model, however, this so-called "non-violent" offender would remain free to strike again while the man in state prison who has already served his time and outlived his crime-prone years would be left to rot for another decade.

This situation is a direct result of the politicization of the parole process.  Administrators only want policies that are "safe," that don't risk political criticism or the ire of victims' groups.  In a way this is admirable, as every violent crime leaves a victim and those victims' rights need to be respected, but at some point the larger fiscal and safety concerns of Georgia as a whole have to take precedence over the eternal clamor for revenge.

In the end it comes down to a matter of common sense.  A system must be implemented to release deserving offenders within the current prison population to make room for the ones who are presently committing crimes and making our streets unsafe.  Any other policy flies in the face of reason and amounts to a betrayal of the law-abiding citizens of Georgia.

George Roland is a resident of Macon.