For Immediate Release (Dec.
11, 2002)
Contact: Rusty Cheuvront or Terry Sebastian (cell: 682-9405) at (502) 564-2611
For a copy of the
Executive Order: http://gov.state.ky.us/pressreleases/2002/budget12-11.htm
FRANKFORT, KY. --
Governor Paul Patton is asking the Department of Corrections to establish a plan
for the early release of a number of non-violent inmates in order to cut costs
and bring the department’s budget in line with the current Spending Plan.
Patton has asked
the agency for the plan because the Department of Corrections is faced with
maintaining the cost of its largest felon population in history while the state
suffers repeated revenue shortfalls.
“Because of the
increase in our prison population, Corrections has budget pressures in the
current year that are in addition to the state’s overall revenue shortfall,”
Patton said. “We have no choice but to ask Corrections to look at how it can
cut its budget that has become increasingly burdened due to the escalating felon
population.”
In late November,
Governor Patton wrote about the stress on the state budget by the growing prison
population in his “Assessment of Kentucky’s Fiscal Condition” and the need
to find ways to cut this cost by as much as $6 million in FY03 and $11 million
in FY04.
“As elected
officials, we have a responsibility to make the difficult choices that will
determine the future prosperity of the citizens we serve,” Patton said.
The Governor has
asked Corrections to respond to his request by Friday. Once the policy is
delivered to Patton, he will review the details and the criteria Corrections
establishes, and determine the timeline for implementation.
The Patton
Administration has made great strides in updating Kentucky’s criminal justice
system, especially in 1998 with the adoption of a comprehensive crime bill,
which established requirements for violent offenders to serve 85 percent of
their sentence and for enhanced tracking and communicating to the public of the
release of sex offenders.
“This
administration has been tough on crime from the start and that policy will
continue until our last day,” Patton said. “But I am confident that the
Department of Corrections can create guidelines that will permit the safe
release of a number of non-violent offenders who would already be nearing the
completion of their sentence.”
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