
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 18, 1990                   TAG: 9007180198
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

WILDER URGES ALTERNATIVES TO LONG PRISON SENTENCES

Virginia's policy of long incarceration for prisoners is jeopardizing other state priorities such as schools, roads and airports, Gov. Doug Wilder told a group of FBI agents Tuesday in Roanoke.

"In the shadow of a downturn in the national economy and a fiscal crunch in the commonwealth, I think we must ask whether Virginia can afford to continue increasing our prison populations and the drain on finite public resources," Wilder told a group of agents at a retraining session at the Sheraton Airport Inn.

"Do we want to pay the tremendous expense of housing more non-violent offenders? or would we rather provide shelter for those who have no home and better health care for the indigent and elderly," Wilder asked in a prepared text released by his office Tuesday afternoon.

Wilder stressed that he does not favor shorter sentences for violent criminals, but he said that across-the-board longer sentences and a curtailment of probation has strained state finances.

Virginia has increased the length of criminal sentences by 24 percent in the past decade, Wilder said. The state now ranks eighth among states for the proportion of inmates serving terms of more than 20 years.

by CNB