Rep. David Segal, D-Providence, center, waits yesterday for a vote on his bill related to probation violations. Other pending bills would eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for drug charges and reward inmates for good behavior.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch Connie Grosch

PROVIDENCE — True to their word, lawmakers are doing something about the size of the state’s prison population, which continues to set records in terms of the number of inmates and the cost to taxpayers.

The General Assembly is tackling the problem with a spate of bills flying back and forth between the House and the Senate. Lawmakers took votes on three bills yesterday; today, they will consider two more — one of which was just introduced yesterday.

Legislative committees held hearings on many prison-related bills in March and April, but held them for further study. Members of a working group on the issue failed to reach a consensus. With just a few days remaining in this year’s legislative session, advocates had all but given up hope.

Now lawmakers appear poised to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for drug charges. They may also act on measures designed to cut down on debt-related incarceration and prevent the state from imprisoning people on probation violations if they’re not convicted of the crime that constituted the violation. And they are fast-tracking a new proposal to reward inmates for good behavior.

Supporters burst into applause when the probation-violation measure cleared the House Judiciary Committee yesterday, in spite of opposition from Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch. “It’s a matter of fundamental justice and due process,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. David A. Segal, D-Providence.

Under current law, if someone who’s already on probation is accused of committing a new crime, the new crime constitutes a violation of their probation terms and they can be imprisoned for the entire length of their earlier sentence, minus whatever time they have already served in prison. But if they are found not guilty of the new crime, or if a grand jury fails to return an indictment, the probation violation does not automatically go away.

Even worse, advocates said, there is no clear legal procedure for getting the probation violation dismissed, and consequently, the person usually remains in prison even after the new charge has been dismissed.

Segal’s bill would change that. It’s on its way to the House floor, and would need to clear the Senate, too, before becoming law.

The same group of advocates rejoiced yesterday when the Judiciary Committee gave the nod to a bill by Rep. Joseph S. Almeida, D-Providence, to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for drug charges. The measure is expected to bring down prison costs by freeing judges to divert people into drug treatment, which costs less than incarceration, and give first-time offenders shorter sentences. A twin bill by Sen. Harold M. Metts, also D-Providence, is on its way to the Senate floor.

Metts is also the sponsor of a bill that would create guidelines for judges to release prisoners who don’t have enough money to pay their court fines and fees.

Unpaid court fines and fees are “the single largest cause of pre-trial commitments” to the Adult Correctional Institutions, accounting for 2,000 incidents a year and costing the state $500,000 annually, according to a report from the Rhode Island Family Life Center, a Providence nonprofit that assists inmates after their release. In 15 percent of these cases, the state spends more to keep the person in prison than the amount the person owes, the report said.

Under Metts’ bill, if someone is getting disability payments, public assistance, or food stamps, that person would automatically be considered unable to pay, and could not be imprisoned solely for nonpayment of court fines or fees.

The bill also directs the court system to give arrested persons a hearing on ability to pay “forthwith,” and orders the courts to assess convicted persons’ ability to pay “immediately after sentencing.” Advocates say the state prison is overcrowded in part because people are unable to get such hearings promptly.

Steven Brown, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Rhode Island chapter, called the bill “a very important first step, both in addressing the overcrowding problem and the inequities that occur because of fines imposed in even minor criminal cases.”

Metts, a Baptist deacon who performs prison ministry at the ACI, also introduced a bill yesterday to allow inmates to get increased credit for so-called “good time.” The bill has Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed as a cosponsor.

Under the bill, inmates who “have faithfully observed” the prison’s “rules and requirements” and have not been subject to discipline would be rewarded with shorter sentences. Currently, inmates with long sentences — anything greater than one year — can only get one day subtracted for each year of their sentence. Inmates with shorter sentences — between six months and a year — can get one day subtracted for each month. Inmates with sentences shorter than six months don’t qualify for “good time” at all.

Metts proposes opening up the system to all inmates with sentences longer than one month, and giving all categories of inmates 10 days’ credit for each month’s good behavior.

The bill was introduced yesterday and scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee today, as the legislature continues its mad rush toward adjournment.

Also slated for a hearing today in the same committee is a bill by Rep. J. Patrick O’Neill, D-Pawtucket, to allow sentencing judges to waive overnight stays at the ACI for people sentenced to community confinement. The bill passed the House last month.

egudrais@projo.com