Virginia should expand drug courts, retool probation and parole rules, and bolster mental health treatment to deflate the state’s expanding prison population, a task force recommended.
The report comes a month before lawmakers return to Richmond tasked with closing a daunting budget shortfall, and undergirds arguments that major savings lie in diverting some nonviolent offenders away from traditional incarceration.
The problem is particularly pressing because the state is shrinking its capacity to house inmates to close that financial hole. The Department of Corrections saw its budget slashed 10 percent for the current fiscal year, and will need to cut its capacity by 1,100 beds, according to the report by the Alternatives for Non-Violent Offenders Task Force. After years of expanding, the task force said the department now “must find ways to downsize.”
Gov. Tim Kaine is set to announce his final two-year budget on Friday and has made no indication as to whether the panel’s findings will be factored into his plans.
Senate Finance Chairman Charles Colgan, D-Manassas, said the issue has not been widely discussed.
“Given the current economic situation, it is critical that we examine all expenditures to ensure that the state’s resources are being used most effectively,” Kaine said in praising the report.
At the top of the panel’s more than a dozen recommendations are new ways to address “technical violators” — criminals rejailed because of smaller probation violations like drug use or failing to report to a probation officer. The task force suggested adopting uniform guidelines that could funnel many low-risk violators into “alternative sanctions.” It also proposed short jail stays, in lieu of fully revoking probation, as well as expanding the use of detention and diversion centers.
Drug treatment courts have been a hotly debated state expenditure in recent General Assembly sessions, and advocates have fought to preserve them. The task force said the courts “should be expanded in those jurisdictions where they already exist and are in high demand.” Improving mental health treatment in prisons also would reduce their populations, according to the panel.
