Panel says prisons aren't the answer.

Byline: BILL BISHOP The Register-Guard

As the Oregon Legislature searches for millions to cut from the state budget, a panel of national experts on prison growth convened Friday at the University of Oregon to call for less reliance on prison as a public safety tool and to urge a spending shift to social programs that prevent crime.

The advocates acknowledged that their positions rile political interests and public sentiments - and they came under fire from supporters of Oregon's mandatory prison terms, who weren't invited to participate in the event.

"What distresses me is that we've got a one-sided discussion going on," said Steve Doell, director of the lobbying group Crime Victims United. His group was instrumental in putting Measure 11, Oregon's mandatory prison term law, on the ballot.

Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis said the experts didn't recognize that Oregon's prison system holds a much lower portion of the state's population and far fewer drug offenders than shown in the nationwide statistics that they rely upon for their message.

Conference organizer Margaret Hallock said the gathering was intended to explore how prison policies can be adjusted during times of state budget constraints. The event was sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics at the UO's law school.

Other topics included the politics of corrections policies in states such as Oregon where citizens have the initiative process and the impact of corrections policies on communities. Oregon prison officials and others were included on the panel to comment on the views of keynote speakers, Hallock said.

With 2.4 million Americans in state and federal prisons and local jails, the United States puts a much larger portion of its citizens behind bars - and with longer sentences - than any other democratic nation, said Marc Mauer, assistant director of The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit group that advocates for more humane alternatives to prison.

Although the nation's rate of imprisonment remained fairly constant for 50 years, it has taken a steep climb since 1975 - when 200,000 people were locked up nationwide, he said.

The prison growth of the past three decades came in three stages, said Frank Zimring, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His focus of study is on policies driving the 30-year prison buildup.

The first decade of the buildup saw more drug and property offenders sent to prison, but average prison terms actually went down, he said. The second phase resulted from the national War on Drugs, which brought a tenfold increase in inmates held nationwide on drug charges at a time when drug use was falling. The latest phase, beginning in 1993, is fueled by longer prison terms imposed by legislators and voters who want to be tough on crime, he said.

Lost in the politics of the prison buildup is the impact on families of inmates and on minority communities, the speakers said.

More than 600,000 inmates are released annually nationwide from state and federal prisons. Another 7 million cycle in and out of jails each year, said Jeremy Travis, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. Yet few resources are devoted to help ensure they find housing, employment and a role in the community to prevent their return to prison, he said.

State Rep. Floyd Prozanski, a Eugene Democrat and member of the House Judiciary Committee that will consider bills affecting prison policy, said lawmakers are looking at everything to balance the budget. It's too early in the session to predict whether lawmakers will change state sentencing policies, he said.

However, he noted that sentencing guidelines haven't been revised for 20 years. He said lawmakers are more likely to appoint a panel of experts and citizens to make recommendations for a longer-term approach rather than to take a quick-fix approach. "I do believe we are doing many things correctly," Prozanski said. "There is always, always room for improvement."