RD430 - Alternatives for Non-Violent Offenders Task Force Report and Recommendations - December 2009


Executive Summary:
Virginia today has four times as many prison inmates as it did 25 years ago. In 1982, there were 9,192 state responsible inmates; at the close of FY2009, there were 38,387. (*1) To accommodate this growing inmate population, Virginia has built a number of correctional facilities. Since 1990, the Commonwealth has added over 22,000 state prison beds. With this growth in population and facilities, came a corresponding growth in costs. The price tag for those 22,000 state prison beds was $1.1 billion in capital costs alone. In FY2008, the operating appropriation for the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) reached over $1 billion, an increase of almost 74 percent since 1998.

After years of investing in expanding correctional facilities, the Commonwealth faces a very different and difficult fiscal situation. Rather than expanding, DOC must find ways to downsize. In October 2008, in response to budget reductions, DOC closed two older correctional facilities and reduced its prison capacity by 1,400 beds. For FY2010, DOC’s general fund budget was cut by an additional 10 percent. To meet these budget reductions, DOC will have to close an additional two facilities, reducing its capacity by another 1,100 prison beds.

Recognizing that funding will be limited or non-existent for future prison or jail construction over the next several years, the General Assembly during its 2009 Session took several steps to determine ways that offender population growth could be moderated, while maintaining the Commonwealth’s commitment to public safety. With this in mind, the General Assembly directed the Secretary of Public Safety to form a Task Force to develop recommendations for expanding the utilization of alternative methods of punishment for non-violent, lower-risk offenders who have been sentenced by a court to a term of incarceration. (See Appendix A).

The Secretary of Public Safety convened the Alternatives for Non-Violent Offenders Task Force and brought together a diverse group of stakeholders from across the criminal justice system, including judges, Commonwealth’s Attorneys, sheriffs, police chiefs, regional jail administrators, the DOC, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission, among others. After a series of four meetings from May to August 2009, the Task Force developed both short and long-term data-driven policies and practices for state-responsible non-violent offenders that protect public safety, hold offenders accountable, and control correctional costs. (*2)

Given the short time frame and diverse stakeholders, it is important to note that these recommendations represent the general view of the Task Force and were not put to a vote. Also, they are not presented in any priority order. There was however, unanimous consensus to extend the work of the Task Force. The members were enthusiastic about the level of cooperation and collaboration achieved in the few months in which the Task Force convened. The recommendations focus on state-responsible technical violators, community supervision practices, and community services.
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(*1) The adult state-responsible inmate population includes offenders incarcerated in state prisons as well as state inmates housed in local and regional jails around the Commonwealth.
(*2) The Task Force focused on non-violent felony offenders as required by Item 387, G of the 2009 Appropriations Act. The recommendations focus on those felony offenders sentenced to DOC and apply only to state-responsible inmates.