Shortly after I was appointed commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections, in February 2006, a reporter asked if I would be able to improve the department's financial situation. I responded -- somewhat naively, it now appears -- that if I could clearly articulate the department's needs, support would be forthcoming.

Some early developments gave us cause to be optimistic. Gov. Bob Riley's release of conditional appropriations in the 2006 and 2007 budgets enabled us to clear the county jail backlog.

But beyond that, no help is on the horizon from the Legislature.

In our 2008 budget request, we asked for funds to continue operations at the current tempo, plus enough for the pay raise set out in the governor's "Plan 2010" to help recruit and retain our over-stressed security staff, and for a "down payment" on the massive $95 million facilities maintenance backlog.

When the smoke cleared in the budget process, gone were the pay raise and the maintenance fund, casualties of the lack of general fund dollars.

A "safety net" $20 million conditional appropriation requested by the governor was axed by the Legislature, and our proposals to furlough expensive, incapacitated inmates to save money and to authorize an expanded correctional industries program to make money were not passed.

As a result, the ability to pay for our continued current level of operations was contingent upon us raising at least $30 million by selling land, equipment and other assets. But in early June, the governor directed us to find a way to balance our operating budget without using land sales money.

He specified that any funds raised by land sales could only be used to upgrade our deteriorating facilities.

After swallowing hard, my staff and I developed a new strategy to meet that challenge that will enable us to operate, albeit at an even greater tempo, and have funds to begin to repair our facilities.

As has been reported, the number of inmates in Alabama prisons -- at more than 29,000 -- is at an all-time high. And we are currently housing about 1,300 inmates in leased space in Louisiana.

Inmate population growth depends on two factors: input and output. As long as the state's prosecutors, judges and parole board put more prisoners in than go out because of end-of-sentence or parole, the numbers we house will go up.

We have urged the district attorneys and courts to implement voluntary sentencing guidelines. We have pushed community correction programs (increasing the number of participating counties from 33 in February 2006 to 39 now).

And we have pleaded with the parole board to move more inmates faster, and to create a Technical Violator Center to divert parole failures.

We are now partnering with Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb to push these programs, and we welcome her initiative to establish a drug court in every county.

So far, these programs -- though promising -- have not been enough. Our new plan, therefore, focuses on taking our fate into our own hands and controlling our own destiny.

If we are to live within the resources made available by the state, we must do two simple things: reduce our expenditures and increase the revenues we generate from our own internal operations.

It's been said that "Everything in war is simple, but even the simplest thing is difficult." The same is true of operating a Department of Corrections: Our success will depend on how well we implement this two-prong strategy.

We will lower costs by canceling the contracts for housing inmates in Louisiana, and we will increase our revenues by generating more from the work-release program.

Our plan is to accomplish six "simple" tasks in the next four or five months:

--Bring all 1,300 male and female inmates, now in Louisiana, back to Alabama by October/November.

--Accelerate the transfer of inmates to the work-release program, from about 1,800 to 3,300, by October/November.

--Convert the Montgomery Pre-Release Center to a women's facility.

--Open the Limestone Pre-Release Center and the new Therapeutic Education Center.

--Implement a Supervised Re-Entry Program pursuant to Alabama Code Section 14-8-60.

--Make some other relatively small budget cuts and implement some minor revenue improvements.

Implementing this simple plan while continuing to ensure public safety will be difficult. It will mean moving thousands of prisoners in addition to the 1,500 to 1,800 we normally move in and out every month.

It also will mean reviewing thousands of records and selecting eligible inmates for work release and the re-entry program. It will mean diverting already scarce security staff to supervise inmates on the Supervised Re-Entry Program, as well as many other independent actions.

But, if we can do all of this -- and we think that we can -- the payoff will be worth it.

All of our inmates will be back in Alabama, more inmates will be working, money for facility maintenance will be available, and a means of controlling population growth -- the Supervised Re-Entry Program -- will be under our control.

The Supervised Re-Entry Program, which will give us much-needed flexibility, has been on the statute books since 1976 but has been dormant for years.

This program will give the Department of Corrections the authority to send certain inmates near their end-of-sentence date either home or to a halfway house for the purpose of them finding a place to live, finding employment or pursuing educational opportunities -- all while still under the supervision of the department.

Rehabilitation, resocialization and reintegration are the program's primary goals. It allows offenders to re-enter society with a much higher level of supervision and, consequently, with a greater chance of success than those inmates on parole or those released at end-of-sentence with no supervision.

It is well recognized that the first year after an inmate is released is critical, and this program will provide supervision and structure during that period, helping inmates stay clean and avoid coming back to prison.

A collateral benefit of the governor's guidance is that certain unproductive assets can be sold and the money generated can be used to begin paying down our maintenance debt.

A survey we conducted last year identified more than $90 million in code upgrades, maintenance and capital improvements (not including new construction) that must be done to get our facilities back in decent and safe condition.

While we could not spend $90 million in a year or two even if we had it, the money generated by selling some of our unproductive assets can be used to begin a program to rehabilitate some of our facilities.

We plan to spend, for example, $1 million at Tutwiler to make it at least somewhat more habitable, and, if possible, we will reduce the population from 700 down to 650 to ease crowding. We finally will replace a roof at Holman that has been leaking for 10 years, and we will fix locks and doors throughout the system that have not worked in years.

We hope to spend about $18 million systemwide, including the normal funds set aside for every day maintenance and repairs, to make a dent in our backlog. However, it will take years to complete all necessary maintenance and repairs.

It is said that the Chinese character for "crisis" is made up of two other characters -- one being danger and the other opportunity.

There is, of course, always the danger that we will not be able to do in such a short period of time the things we need to do, and that we will fail in the attempt. But this is a great opportunity to do some things for the department that have been left undone for many years.

We will improve the system, enhance public safety and fix long-standing problems with our infrastructure.

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