Prison Populations on the Rise

Officials say that despite plans to build three new prisons across the state, N.C. prisons, including those in the Triangle, still will have to juggle problems of overcrowding in the coming years.

An increase in felonies such as murder, armed robbery and drug trafficking in recent years has given the state more offenders than it is equipped to handle.

To help ease overcrowding, new prisons are under construction in Alexander, Anson and Scotland counties, where officials have identified the most urgent needs for prison beds.

Each prison will house 1,000 prisoners, said Mildred Spearman, spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Corrections.

But even with three new prisons in the state, housing prisoners might continue to be a problem because the number of felony convictions is increasing faster than additional prisons can be built.

"The new prisons will not meet (housing) needs if people continue to go to prison at the rate they are," she said.

The Triangle has followed the state trend, said Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby. He added that area courts have maintained full dockets in recent years, just like other courts throughout North Carolina.

But there are no plans at this point to build a new prison in the Triangle area.

Willoughby said there has been a greater increase of bank robberies in the Triangle than any other crime. He said the increase in Wake County has been the most dramatic. Homicides and identity theft have also increased in Wake County, Willoughby said.

He said projections for increasing numbers of area prisoners have been close to on-target for 2003.

"A few years ago, 2003 seemed to be a long way off, but now the prospect (of overcrowding) is coming true," he said. "We, as a society, will have to decide if public safety is an issue."

Felonies have increased statewide by 5 percent, which has lead to overcrowding in prisons, said Susan Katzenelson, executive director of the N.C. Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission.

She said this is an issue that needs to be addressed by the N.C. General Assembly. "State legislatures will have to deal with this problem and make decisions," Katzenelson said.

Over the next 10 years local jails will be asked more often to house offenders that cannot be accommodated by the state's prisons. By keeping prisoners at local jails for longer periods of time, North Carolina can slow the rate of incoming prisoners at the larger facilities.

But she said this is only a temporary relief for the overcrowded prisons.

Katzenelson also said this process is costly, as the local jails must be payed on a daily basis to keep these extra prisoners.

The three prisons under construction are expected to be completed by 2004.

The Scotland County prison will be finished by August, the Anson prison by December and the Alexander prison by April 2004.

Meanwhile, Katzenelson said, the state still expects to have about 1,300 more prisoners than beds by the end of the year.

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.