LANSING -- A state senator from Rochester is preparing
legislation to correct what he says is an injustice that's adding $7
million a year or more to the cost of running the state prison system.
Prisoners convicted of violent offenses are being held beyond their
minimum sentences because they can't get into a required psychotherapy
program soon enough, according to Republican Sen. Michael Bishop.
There are continual waiting lists for the 10-to-12-month Assaultive
Offender Program. It's available at most state prisons. Moreover,
inmates lose their place in line for the program when they are
transferred from one institution to another -- common in the prison
system.
"There shouldn't be a requirement to complete a program unless that
program is available to you," said Bishop, vice chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee.
Besides being unfair, the situation adds to pressure on prison space
and the troubled state budget, Bishop said.
His planned legislation would prohibit the denial of parole to an
otherwise-eligible inmate who couldn't finish the program before his
parole date came up.
Barbara Levine, who directs the Citizens Alliance on Prisons and
Public Spending, said the state could save another $10 million by
providing the program to other inmates in high-security prisons.
