Two Frankfort committees to study justice system

Instead of one Frankfort committee studying Kentucky’s criminal-justice system and suggesting reforms within three years, there will be two committees asked to suggest reforms in one year, state officials said Tuesday.

The Senate unanimously passed Senate Joint Resolution 80, which would establish a legislative committee to study the penal code with an eye on prison and jail crowding and suggest reforms no later than December. The bill originally called for a report by July 2011, but it later was changed.

“2011 was too long a study time,” said the sponsor, Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville.

Hours earlier, Gov. Steve Beshear said he’s sticking with his plan – as announced in his budget address – to create a Criminal Justice Task Force composed of experts and leading players in Kentucky’s justice system. Beshear said he and Justice Secretary J. Michael Brown are currently working on the membership.

Like the legislative committee, Beshear said he wants a report within a year that suggests ways to safely alleviate prison and jail crowding. The bill allowing a three-year study period was never his idea, he said.

“I think it’s important enough, we need to move that fast to do this,” Beshear said. “There have been two, three, four studies on this over the last few years. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

The Pew Center on the States last week issued a report revealing that Kentucky led the country in 2007 with its prison population growth, at 12 percent. More than 22,000 state inmates have filled 16 prisons and are backed up in overcrowded jails, draining millions of dollars from the rest of the justice system.

-- John Cheves