Del.'s influx of inmates recedes
Corrections official says new prisons might not be needed

Laws passed last year to relieve pressure on Delaware's prisons seem to be working, and the state may not need to consider building more prisons in the foreseeable future, Correction Commissioner Stanley W. Taylor Jr. has said.

A year ago, Taylor told lawmakers the state should consider building 1,000 more prison beds at a cost of about $85 million because the prisons were full and the inmate population was rising by about 250 a year. It would take three years to ready a prison of that size, he said.

But Taylor told the General Assembly's Joint Finance Committee last week that growth in the prison population has slowed to about 150 new inmates a year, removing the need to think about building a new prison.

"For the first time in my career, the population is reflecting a continuing negative trend," said Taylor, who's been commissioner since December 1995.

Taylor said the department has no data yet to explain why the growth is slowing. But he said he thinks it is the result of laws enacted last year to do away with some mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses and to stem the number of probation violators occupying prison beds.

Last year, probation violations were the largest source of admissions to Delaware's prison system, and accounted for about one-third of about 6,600 inmates.

In April, the Legislature adopted Senate Bill 50, which gave the corrections department more leeway in handling minor violations and also required less sentencing of people to long probation terms.

Pressure on prisons also could be easing because of the passage last year of House Bill 210, which allows the Department of Correction to move drug offenders to work release or violation of probation centers during the last six months of their terms. Those guilty of various offenses involving motor vehicles also can be moved from prison cells to home confinement, and drunken drivers can be housed at probation centers.

Sen. James T. Vaughn, D-Clayton, primary sponsor of the measure on probation, said the inmate count should fall once the full impact of his legislation is brought to bear.

"If this continues," Vaughn told Taylor, "the budget should come down."

Taylor is seeking a budget for the year that begins July 1 of just over $194.1 million, an increase of 2.53 percent over the current spending level. The bulk of the increase would be for expenses - including 39 employees - at the new Women's Work Release Center, expected to be opened by August on the campus of Baylor Women's Correctional Institution near New Castle.

That facility will add 100 new beds to the prison system's current operational capacity of 6,587, which reflects the department's assessment of how many prisoners it can handle safely. As of Thursday, the actual inmate count was 6,602.

Delaware completed in 2002 a 2,500-bed expansion of the prison system begun in 1998. Delaware's prison population grew by 75.5 percent from 1990 to 2000. The population dropped from 7,003 in 2001 to 6,778 in 2002, according to federal statistics.

Taylor said that 64 new beds would be carved out of old maximum-security space that has given way to new construction at Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna. At the same facility, conversion of the old infirmary to a 100-bed pod also is nearing completion.

Those new beds, Taylor said, should provide a comfort level as officials get a handle on the reasons for the population decline and its anticipated duration.

"We've got a little bit of wiggle room as we decide what's going on with our population," Taylor said.