HARRISBURG -- State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf is trying to take on the unpopular issue of reducing the state prison population by increasing the use of rehabilitation programs and parole for non-violent offenders.

Because the state prison population is increasing faster than the state can build new prisons, Mr. Greenleaf, R-Montgomery and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, held a hearing yesterday to discuss alternate treatments for thousands of state prisoners with drug and alcohol problems or mental problems, as well as "geriatric" prisoners who physically frail.

The population of Pennsylvania's 27 state prisons is now 51,300 and rising -- a nearly 12 percent increase over the 46,000 prisoners just three years ago. With current mandatory sentence laws giving judges little discretion in many cases, and with some parolees being returned to prison for "technical" violations, about 1,700 inmates a year are now being added to the already overcrowded system.

"We are in a serious situation, with most of our institutions well over their capacity," he said. "We have a criminal justice system based on one factor alone -- punishment."

He said that "locking them up and throwing away the key," without giving prisoners a chance at rehabilitation or time to learn a productive trade, leads to "a failed system."

Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, the ranking Democrat on the committee, agreed that something must be done to lessen prison population because it has become an expensive problem.

The Department of Corrections has the third-highest budget of all state agencies at $1.8 billion and expected to hit $2 billion soon. With state revenues continuing to drop in the current recession, officials are looking for ways to cut costs, but it's become almost impossible to reduce corrections costs.

While temporary modular units have added 6,000 beds to the prison system, increasing its capacity from 43,000 to 49,000, the state is still being forced to build four new prisons over the next several years at a cost of $200 million per prison. Each new prison will hold about 2,000 inmates.

Construction on the first new facility, at Rockview state prison near State College, is to start in about six months and it will take three years to complete. A site in Fayette County is being sought for another new prison, with two others to be built at Graterford state prison near Philadelphia.

Other steps the state has taken include sending more than 400 state inmates to county jails, including Armstrong, Bedford, Cambria and Lawrence counties, and discussing with other states, such as Michigan, whether to move 1,500 Pennsylvania inmates to prisons there. That move could cost at least $30 million.

State Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard will soon begin making "site visits" to other states to check out their prisons.

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