Elmer Smith: Jails and lotteries: Sure thing for states

YOU CAN'T help but be moved by the level of cooperation we're starting to see among the states.

We reported yesterday that a half-dozen states have expressed a willingness to ease Pennsylvania's prison overcrowding by housing some of our excess inmates.

Right on the heels of that, we got the announcement that the people who run the Mega Millions game and the ones who put Pennsylvania in the Powerball lottery have agreed to get together so that every state that has lotteries can offer both multistate games.

It's a chance for Mega Millions states like New Jersey and Powerball states like Pennsylvania and Delaware to join hands in the cooperative pursuit of our last few disposable dollars.

Even before the Mega Millions consortium and the Multi-State Lottery Association got together last month, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine had cast a covetous eye on the potential windfall he could reap by cutting himself into the Powerball lottery.

Wouldn't take much to get Gov. Rendell into the Mega Millions consortium. He's never been one to sit out a hand in a high-stakes game.

Delaware is not showing its hand. But it would almost have to invite Mega Millions in self-defense.

Think about it: If both states ran both games, you'd never have to cross the bridge to place a bet, leaving another $4 a week to invest in lottery tickets.

As if that wasn't heartwarming enough, six states have answered Pennsylvania's call for places to house our excess prisoners. Seems we're overbooked by about 1,500.

This is at once stunning and gratifying. We couldn't get neighboring counties to agree to accept some of our public-school children in the interest of expanding school choice. But this is different.

For one thing, we're sending out only our finest felons. Problem prisoners would remain in place. Guys who murder or maim other prisoners or corrections officers, and prisoners who are infirm, insane or incontinent would not be considered for transfer.

Department of Corrections Secretary Jeffrey A. Beard offered that assurance last month in letters to prison officials in Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oklahoma and Virginia.

The 1,000 to 1,500 prisoners he is looking to unload would require little more than the requisite three hots and a cot plus "perfunctory programs" as required, Beard promised.

All six of the solicited states responded favorably. I would expect no less. Prison construction and management is the fastest-growing industry in America.

Michigan offered to take all 1,500 of our excess inmates. It would probably have taken more if we had offered. If it waits long enough, we will.

Felons do more time in Pennsylvania than in 48 other states. The over-50 population has grown from 370 in 1980 to 8,179 last year. We have more than 60 mandatory sentences on the books.

But the fastest-growing inmate categories in Pennsylvania are nonviolent offenders and parole violators. According to Department of Corrections figures, the percentage of nonviolent prisoners has increased from 30 percent to 41 percent since 2002.

Those are the ones we'll be shipping out, our better class of criminals.

If the state follows the same pattern the city does when it ships out its excess prisoners, it will end up paying a premium to offload the prisoners whom it costs us the least to house.

The city has about 400 prisoners housed in neighboring counties. We pay those counties $10 to $30 a day more than the $97.72 it costs us to house them here.

Extending that statewide, at $20 a day per inmate Pennsylvania would wind up paying an additional $10 million a year.

Every corrections expert in America will tell you that housing prisoners long distances from their families increases recidivism because it separates them from the family supports they need when they get out.

So the transfers are not only inhumane, they are counterproductive and costly.

But you can't help but be moved by the level of cooperation we're starting to see among the states.

Send e-mail to smithel@phillynews.com or call 215-854-2512. For recent columns: http://go.philly.com/smith