Thaindian News

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA (BNO NEWS) – South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and other state officials called for passage of the sentencing reform bill, the Office of the governor announced on Wednesday.

The sentencing reform will reverse the trend toward incarcerating non-violent criminals who pose little or no threat to the population, discourage recidivism by providing inmates with a more closely supervised transition to society once their sentences have been served, and at the same time save taxpayers more than $400 million over the next five years.

“Over the last several years our Department of Corrections has done a phenomenal job of doing more with less - indeed South Carolina spends $39.85 per day on each inmate, the second lowest rate in the nation,” Governor Sanford said.

“However, a number of structural problems with our prison and parole system have prevented Corrections from making improvements that would both discourage recidivism and save taxpayer resources in the process. These reforms are not only a matter of making our Corrections process even more lean and effective, but also reducing overall crime and consequently improving the quality of life we all enjoy as South Carolinians.”