The Bench & Bar magazine is published to provide members of the KBA with information that will increase their knowledge of the law, improve the practice of law, and assist in improving the quality of legal services for the citizenry.
Issue link: https://kentuckybenchandbar.epubxp.com/i/104896
Certain offenders are not eligible, including those not eligible for parole by statute; those convicted of a capital offense or Class A felony; classified as maximum or close security; or sentenced to two years or less.11 Those inmates with more serious felonies who are not eligible for MRS will be required to fall under supervision for a year after release under the new law. Common sense points to the significance of this provision: prior to the enactment of HB 463, an inmate who served out his or her sentence would have gone from the closely monitored, tightly controlled environment of incarceration to freedom, and those first few months often prove the most difficult as they adjust to life outside of prison. From January 1 until the middle of October, 3158 offenders were released through MRS, giving these individuals, who would have otherwise been released with no supervision, guidelines, oversight, and assistance in the critical timeframe when most re-offenses occur. The release of these offenders has generated impressive savings, nearly $6.5 million to date.12 ber of cases, both felonies and misdemeanors, went down by more than 23,000 when compared to the year prior to HB 463's enactment.14 That included 17,000 fewer arrests, which is especially noteworthy since counties bear the full cost of incarceration before sentencing. Significantly, the public safety rate – the percentage of those not charged with a new crime while on pretrial release – has increased since the law went into effect, rising from 90 percent to 92 percent, according to the Administrative Office of the Courts.15 At the same time, the pretrial release rate has increased by five percent. These numbers indicate that defendants who were out on pretrial release are committing fewer crimes than they were prior to HB 463. System-wide corrections innovations These initiatives, coupled with others over the past four years, paint a picture of substantive innovations in Kentucky's corrections system that is enterprise-wide: • After population projections indi- cated a continued decline in the need for minimum custody-level beds, the Department of Corrections closed the Frankfort Career Development Center, a 205-bed minimum security prison in Franklin County. The closure provided an ideal, if not somewhat ironic, opportunity: converting the former prison into a desperately needed new training academy for the Kentucky State Police. The decline has also enabled the department to cancel two of three state contracts with private prison facilities, leaving only one private prison, Marion Adjustment Center, currently housing Kentucky inmates. • We "flipped" a prison, converting an all-male state prison into a women's facility. The move accommodated the expansion of our female inmate population, the fastest growing segment of the state's system, and Stakeholders generally positive Other provisions in the law have also seen positive results. County officials, while initially cautious about the impact on their budgets, generally offered positive reviews of the law during a Criminal Justice Council meeting in August.13 They cited the capping of medical costs at the Medicaid rate, as well as the lowering of the threshold at which catastrophic medical payment by the state is triggered, as beneficial, along with provisions in the law for allowing more state inmates to serve their time or complete their sentence in a county jail. Additionally, county governments will begin reaping some of the savings that had been projected when HB 463 was passed. Beginning this fiscal year, counties will receive nearly $9 million in additional funding through the Local Corrections Assistance Fund, to help with costs associated with housing, care and transportation of inmates. Moreover, according to the Kentucky Association of Counties, the total numJanuary 2013 Bench & Bar 9