INDIANAPOLIS — County prosecutors around the state want Indiana lawmakers considering a major sentencing reform bill to keep the “worst of the worst” criminals behind bars longer.
They're pushing to amend the legislation that would shorten prison sentences for many drug and theft crimes to also lengthen the prison sentences served by violent and habitual criminals.
Under an amendment they favor, criminals who cause serious harm to their victims would be subject to the same sentencing restrictions as some child molesters and murderers.
Prosecutors contend the millions of dollars that will be saved by the state by releasing low-level offenders early should be balanced out on the other end.
“Let's spend some of those savings on keeping dangerous people in prison longer,” Steve Johnson, executive director of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, said.
Boone County Prosecutor Todd Meyer, who was among scores of prosecutors and law enforcement officials at a committee hearing on Senate Bill 561 last week, said the legislation focuses on the early release of offenders rather than protection for victims.
“For too long, the victims of crimes in this state have suffered through an inconsistent and confusing process of trying to understand what is going to happen to the person who victimized them,” Meyer said.
Among four amendments to the bill, which comes up for a committee vote on Tuesday, is one that would address sentencing of what Meyer and others call the “worst of the worst” offenders.
It would expand categories of “credit restricted felons” who currently must serve 85 percent of their sentence. Most offenders customarily serve 50 percent or less of their sentences by earning a day-for-day “good time” credit. Additional credits, earned for such things as taking college classes, can reduce prison sentences even more.
Elkhart County Prosecutor Curtis Hill said the amendment expands the legislation beyond early release for low-level offenders.
“If you're going to look at what's appropriate to do at the low end of offenders, you ought to be looking at what's appropriate with the high end of offenders,” Hill said.
Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson said only a handful of offenses are covered by credit restrictions now. They include child molesting resulting in serious bodily injury or death and murder of a victim of sex crime.
The amendment would expand credit restrictions to a select group of Class A and Class B felony crimes, including kidnapping, rape, incest, voluntary manslaughter, armed robbery and aggravated battery. It would also expand credit restrictions on all murderers and most child molesters.
Cost has been a major issue in the debate over the bill.
A study by the Pew Center on the States and the Council of State Governments Justice Center found Indiana's prison population had escalated over the past decade by 41 percent. The study recommended the state take measures to clear low-level offenders out of its prisons to curb the growth and reduce costs.
The report said those measures could save Indiana $1.2 billion that would otherwise go to building new prisons over the next seven years. Another $37 million would be saved in food, medical and other costs.
It also recommended spending $27 million over six years to expand probation programs, offering incentives for counties that send fewer lower-level felons to prison and improving access to drug treatment programs.
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