INDIANAPOLIS | Calling for "smarter incarceration," Gov. Mitch Daniels asked state lawmakers Wednesday to revamp Indiana's criminal code and sentencing rules to save money by keeping most nonviolent criminals out of prison.
"The promise of this set of proposals that have been brought to us is that we can keep the numbers in our prison flat by smarter incarceration, smarter punishment of lesser offenders in community and other settings," Daniels said.
The specifics of the Republican governor's proposal are expected to be announced Thursday when the General Assembly's Criminal Code Evaluation Committee receives a report on Indiana's prison system compiled by the Pew Center on the States and the Council of State Governments.
In general, Daniels said he wants to save prison space for the most serious offenders by allowing judges to sentence drug and theft offenders to community corrections programs, enable probation officers to focus time and resources to stop the offenders most likely to commit another crime, and make better drug abuse and mental health treatment options available to reduce recidivism.
State Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, chairman of the Criminal Code Evaluation Committee, said the plan is not intended to shift corrections expenses on to counties, but for the state to support intensive supervision and corrections programs at the local level.
Indiana spends about $700 million a year to imprison 29,159 people. Even as the crime rate fell between 2000 and 2008, Indiana's prison population grew 41 percent, according to the governor's office.
That rate is three times faster than any neighboring state, and Indiana led the nation in prison population growth in 2009. Without any changes, the correction department projects Indiana will lock up 34,794 people by 2017.
In 2009, more than 8,000 Indiana offenders were released having served fewer than 180 days in prison. The governor said the constant shuffling of criminals in and out of prisons is expensive, time-consuming and doesn't necessarily prevent an offender from committing another crime.
"The only way to continue protecting Hoosiers and make Indiana safer and safer, but doing this in a way that also protects Indiana taxpayers, I believe is to embrace this package," Daniels said.