America’s Jail Crisis
Budget-strapped cities and towns are being crushed by the costs of incarceration. But there are solutions. Full article with additional pictures available at Forbes.com.
Out the 20th floor window of the Harris County Criminal Justice Center, the sprawl and elevation of buildings look
like the campus of a law enforcement university, filling up the northeast corner of downtown. A juvenile justice center as big as a hospital. Two high-rise courthouses. An overrun booking tank. Beneath it all, tunnels run like veins through the complex, filled with inmates shuffling to hearings from the third biggest jail in America.An average of 10,000 inmates were held per day in the Harris County Jail in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, not including an additional 1,100 bused six hours to and from northern Louisiana. With an average stay of 45 days in three drab detention facilities, the jail is consistently overcrowded.
“This really wasn’t built for this,” says John Dyess, chief administrative officer of the sheriff’s office, which oversees the jail. “I don’t know if we can build our way out of where we are today.”
Money may decide the issue. A stunning 25% of Harris County’s annual $1.5 billion budget goes to law enforcement, with more than $750,000 a day spent on detainees. A shortage of guards means the jail shells out $35 million a year on overtime; some guards are topping out at $100,000 a year in total pay.
Houston is far from alone. Amid budget crises, falling tax revenue and national unemployment approaching 10%, jails–usually city- or county-run holding facilities for those serving short sentences or awaiting trial–saw their populations grow nearly twice as fast as state and federal prison populations during the first half of the decade, according to a 2008 report by the Justice Policy Institute. The report says that local governments spent $97 billion on criminal justice in 2004, up 347% since 1982, while detention expenses climbed 519% to $19 billion.
Complete article on Forbes.com.
Uncategorized