Budget Cited For Early Releases
More than 300 inmates awaiting trial in St. Tammany Parish LA have been released from jail this year after posting little or no bond because the Sheriff’s Office has filled more than half of the jail’s beds with “for profit” state and federal prisoners to pay for jail operations, Sheriff Jack Strain said. Reported by NOLA.com.
The inmates join hundreds of others from past years, including a man accused of killing a Covington woman after being released, who were freed under a program known as “Code 6.” Designed as a pressure valve to prevent jail overcrowding, the Sheriff’s Office has come to increasingly rely on the system as it takes in more “profit prisoners” from the state to keep the jail in the black. In a letter to Parish Council members delivered Thursday, Strain said the situation has come to a head and that he needs several million dollars a year from parish government so he can reduce the number of state prisoners being accepted. But parish spokeswoman Suzanne Parsons-Stymiest said that while parish officials are concerned about public safety, there’s simply no money to spare for the jail.
The jail, which can hold nearly 1,200 inmates in long-term facilities, now holds 616 prisoners for the state, causing dozens of pretrial detainees to be freed. The jail will have to accept an additional 100 state inmates next year to help make up an expected $1 million drop in the sales tax revenue that makes up about half of the jail’s $19 million budget, Strain’s letter said. Altogether, the 716 inmates would bring in about $6.4 million for the Sheriff’s Office. “Having such a large number of beds occupied by D.O.C. inmates, coupled with the crippling number of pretrial holds and violent offenders, eliminates the ability of local law enforcement to place and keep new arrestees behind bars,” Strain wrote. “I think we can all agree that the intent of having a jail is lost when, due to fiscal constraints, we are essentially running a state prison” …
While nearly a quarter of the 321 inmates released through Code 6 this year were held on contempt of court charges, many others faced more serious charges, including dozens of alleged drug offenders, 14 burglary defendants, an inmate booked with aggravated assault and 25 DWI offenders, according to statistics from the Sheriff’s Office.
In his letter, Strain presents the council with three options: “continue to run what amounts to a state prison, with no space for new arrestees”; significantly reduce the size of the jail, eliminating all state inmates as well as the work programs they provide to local governments; or transfer millions from the parish budget to reduce the number of state inmates. Though the Sheriff’s Office is responsible for running the jail, parish government is charged with providing money for the facility and its maintenance. Parish officials have previously said a 1/4-cent sales tax, which provided money to expand the jail and pay for its operations, covers that obligation … The Sheriff’s Office predicts it will cost about $19 million to run the jail next year. Of that, about $9.5 million will come from the 1/4-cent sales tax and another $2.5 million from fees and reimbursements. The Sheriff’s Office plans to make up the remaining $7 million from reimbursements from the state Department of Corrections and U.S. Marshals Service …
Council Chairman Jerry Binder said he favors setting up a committee to look for alternative financial sources, such as federal and state governments, and possibly try to get the reimbursement for state prisoners increased. “I don’t see an easy solution,” Binder said. “Money is tight, period.”
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