Published: February 21, 2008 07:59 pm            

Senate Judiciary wants lawmakers to review penal code

A subcommittee of the General Assembly’s Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary would review Kentucky’s penal code with an eye to lowering prison and jail populations – but it wouldn’t have to report its findings until July 1, 2011.

The amended resolution reflects calls by Gov. Steve Beshear and key lawmakers, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, and House Judiciary Chair Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, for an overhaul of the code which was last revised in the mid-1970s. Thursday’s action was in the form of a committee substitute by Stivers to a resolution sponsored by Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, and Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London.

Instead of a task force with members representing numerous interested parties, Stivers’ amendment calls for a subcommittee of lawmakers who can still consult with those representatives which Neal's bill would have put on the task force.

“Ultimately, we’re the ones who’ll have to make the changes,” Stivers said. “I’m not too big on Blue Ribbon commissions,” because they often bog down as the many and diverse constituents argue about issues special to them.

Neal agreed with Stivers’ changes. He said during the more than 30 years since the state’s penal code was last revised, the crime rate has increased by only 3 percent but the state’s incarceration rate has gone up 600 percent. During that time, Kentucky’s prison population skyrocketed from about 2,800 to 22,442 today. About 8,000 of those are lodged in often over crowded county jails where prisoners sleep on the floors. And county jails are ravaging county governments’ budgets.

CNHI News Service in January published a 10-story series highlighting the problem and its impact on county budgets. It found that a major cause of prison and jail population growth was the growing number of crimes classified as felonies and enhancement and enlargement of penalties for many crimes, especially drug offenses. Soon thereafter, Gov. Steve Beshear called for creation of a task force to study ways the penal code might be revised to reduce the strain on jails and prisons.

The state’s top Public Advocate, Ernie Lewis, said the revision is “long overdue,” but he expressed concern about the 2012 deadline for making recommendations and said the penal code was reviewed in the late 1990s but nothing had come of that review. He said that information should be reviewed by the proposed subcommittee and changes should be enacted sooner.

If the report does take until July 2011, the soonest the legislature could act on them would be the 2012 session, and prison populations are projected to continue to grow faster than the state can find space for them.

But Stivers said the 2011 deadline was just that – a deadline.

“They could report sooner than that,” Stivers said. “But I guarantee you it will take over a year because it’s quite a complex problem.”

Stivers, a practicing attorney, has been deeply involved in the issue since promising a meeting of county officials he’d address their concerns and has said the problem of rising jail costs and prison populations can’t be alleviated without “systemic change up and down the line.” And he has the confidence of county judge/executives like Lawrence Kuhl of Laurel County who said Stivers listens to their problems, understands the criminal system, and is serious about helping.

The Judiciary Committee passed another bill Thursday which could help alleviate some of the jail over crowding got unanimous endorsement of the committee. Senate Bill 92, sponsored by Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, would allow those charged with non-violent, non-sexual Class D felonies – the mildest felony charges usually involving minor thefts – to post bond without waiting for a pre-trial evaluation or arraignment. That could save the counties from a day to several days incarceration costs for the inmate.

The bill would allow the state Supreme Court to establish a uniform schedule of bail amounts for such crimes and those could be posted without the present requirements.



RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com.



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