A.T. Wall, left, director of the Department of Corrections, talks with Richard Frechette, his reentry policy coordinator, before yesterday’s House Finance Committee hearing, chaired by Rep. Steven Costantino, below.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

PROVIDENCE

Corrections Director A.T. Wall was prepared yesterday to tell the House Finance Committee that the soaring prison population his department now struggles with isn’t just a Rhode Island problem; other states are suffering, too.

Spare us the big picture, committee members politely suggested at the start of their budget hearing.

With the department already offering up what one committee member called unrealistic options — such as closing parts of the state prison to cut costs — and the governor talking vaguely of releasing 500 inmates to serve the same purpose, committee members were eager to hear about specific remedies.

“What is the plan,” asked Chairman Steven M. Costantino, for releasing 500 inmates into the community?

The committee didn’t hear many specifics.

“At this point there is no plan,” Wall said. A plan will be forthcoming only after a discussion among all three branches of government. “This is a public policy question. All three branches have a stake in this.”

Toward that goal, Wall said the department and Governor Carcieri’s staff were working with the Council of State Governments — a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy think tank based in Kentucky — to devise various options for how best to reduce the prison census.

Wall said the state should have those options within the next few weeks, at which time they can be discussed with legislative, judicial and administrative representatives.

Pressed about what potential steps could be available if the state does indeed move to release 500 inmates, Wall mentioned possibly relaxing the eligibility criteria for home confinement, using more probation in lieu of prison and holding weekend arraignments so alleged offenders are bailed out sooner, rather than occupy prison cells until Monday court appearances.

Carcieri also has in his proposed budget for next year plans to resurrect the idea of a state-financed bail program for inmates — a measure the state used only reluctantly during the early 1990s when a federal judge demanded reductions in prison overcrowding.

The department’s budget of $164 million for this fiscal year was based on an average daily inmate population of 3,375, Wall said prior to the hearing. But the daily population has surged to around 3,768, the highest in the department’s history, requiring Wall to ask for millions more to finish out this year.

The department is asking for $189 million for next fiscal year, based on an inmate population projection of 3,789. But Carcieri said the department’s budget could only afford an inmate population of 3,289, leaving 500 inmates for Wall to remove from his system.

Rep. John Patrick Shanley Jr., R-South Kingstown, voiced skepticism of much collaboration between the governor and other branches of government, noting how the judiciary balked last week at Carcieri’s plan to furlough state workers in another cost-cutting plan.

“When do you think we are going to have this sudden synergy and everyone is going to get along?” he asked.

Shanley said each year the Finance Committee signs on to some “very good ideas” about various community confinement programs “and they don’t seem to pan out. No one seems to talk to each other.”

He suggested the state look at the number of illegal immigrants it may be housing at the Adult Correctional Institutions (Wall said he didn’t have a solid figure immediately) and look to widen the criteria for parole.

“This state has had a history of having some of the most punitive criminal codes in the country.”

Costantino asked repeatedly where the governor had come up with the figure of 500 inmates to be released. He said he had been in budget discussion concerning corrections for weeks and “I don’t remember this being a point of any discussion.”

Wall said his department provided the governor’s staff with population figures and the governor’s office determined that a net savings of $3 million could be realized if the prison census could be reduced by 500.

“I don’t think 500 can be achieved,” said Costantino. “I’m not sure 250 can be achieved.”

And “if it can’t,” he said, the Finance Committee will have to find the difference somehow.

tmooney@projo.com