By Scott Miller
Staff Writer

Taxpayers would likely pay almost nothing if the state’s parole system were abolished, S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster said Tuesday.

McMaster wants to abolish parole for all crimes and shift the penalties for some nonviolent offenses from jail time to community service. Such a move would deter crime in the future, he said, and more immediately, keep criminals off the streets.

“Every time a judge issues a sentence … that judge is not telling the truth,” McMaster said, speaking at a news conference at North Charleston City Hall. “Victims and their families every year have to relive these horrible memories by traveling to Columbia to protest the release (of criminals by the state’s parole board).”

But he also acknowledged overcrowding in state prisons and said if South Carolina needed to build more facilities, “We’ll do that. That is government’s No. 1 responsibility, to keep the public safe.”

The cost to build more jails or house more inmates, if needed, remains unknown, as does the method to fund such measures.

“I’m not going to worry about that. If they belong in jail, then that’s where they need to be, and we’ll pay the money happily,” McMaster said. “I think ultimately it will take pressure off the prisons.”

A spokesman with the S.C. Department of Corrections was unavailable Tuesday morning.

The state pays about $19,000 to imprison one criminal for a year. Currently, more than 22,000 inmates are serving time in state institutions, according to data from the state corrections department. The department is at 99.7% capacity.

Prison populations are unlikely to increase because the state abolishes parole, McMaster said. Eliminating parole would be one part of a larger overhaul of the state’s legal system.