West Virginia Prison News

 

 

 

WVU Law School forum addresses prison overcrowding

By Bayley Brown

 
March 2, 2011 · The Director of the West Virginia Division of Justice and Community Services, Norbert Federspeil, was one of five presenters at the WVU College of Law forum Wednesday.

Federspeil said more of an emphasis on community corrections programs could be one solution to the prison overcrowding problem. 

 

“Offenders can be sentenced as an alternative to prison to the community,” said Federspeil. “[There they will] report daily, go through programming, and receive drug or behavioral health treatment as necessary.” 

 

Federspeil also said that an increase in the use of transitional living services will help former prisoners stay out of the correctional system.

 

The majority of panelists were from California, the state with the largest prison overcrowding problem in the country. The General Council for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Ben Rice, spoke about solutions that have begun to work in his state.

 

“At the height in 2006-2007, the population in our prisons was roughly 165,000 and it's now down to 145,000," said Rice. "That was due to some lower crime rates. We've sent 10,000 inmates out of state. There was legislation that was passed a few years ago that changed what kind of paroles could come back to state prisons.” 

In addition, Rice discussed the legal issues which arose from overcrowding and the difficulties in providing medical and mental health care for prisoners.



http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=19205

 

 

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