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Budget Issues In A Florida Mega Jail

June 1st, 2009
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fl-lee-county-mapLee County FL is facing hard budget choice, as reported by Naples Daily News.

Budgeting for law enforcement is tricky enough in difficult economic times. As property crime increases, the money to battle it decreases. Rank-and-file absorb much of the impact, as pay raises evaporate and overtime becomes a luxury. But the blow that Lee County agencies are taking for the upcoming year — the county lost 25 percent of its tax base in the past year, the property appraiser announced Friday — is staggering. Now, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office must decide where to cut, how deep to cut and how to avoid hitting bone.

One trend in the agency’s favor is a smaller jail population. Since December 2008, the average inmate population of the Lee County jail has hovered around 1,900 people. A year earlier, it was closer to 2,300. The difference translates to money saved. Fewer inmates means fewer people to guard, feed and generally care for. Crucially, it means the 30 vacant jailer positions that Lee Sheriff Mike Scott cut last year can remain cut. It means $3 million for inmate mental health services — originally slated for the new jail wing when it opened last year — can be used elsewhere. And it means plans for a new county jail can be placed on hold …

Lee County deputies are handing out more notices-to-appear, citations that keep the recipient out of jail while requiring they go before a judge. The difference, 462 handed out in 2008 vs. an average 272 in the prior three years, while considerable, doesn’t appear to explain the drop. Another possibility is a new case conference system in Lee Circuit Court. Established last year, the system, which requires that prosecutors and defenders track cases more regularly, has resulted in quicker outcomes and lower caseloads, court officials say …

Lower daily inmate numbers means less crowding within cell blocks, said Sgt. David Velez, assistant commander of the Ortiz Road jail site. It means inmates get actual bunks instead of the plastic portable bunks that come with overcrowding. In October 2008, there was an average 28 percent more inmates than beds for the year. After the jail expansion opened in November, overcrowding fell but still existed. Now, beds remain open, Velez said …

The current Sheriff’s Office budget is roughly $161 million. Several weeks ago, Bergquist, the budget director, said the coming budget would be lower.

jakking Court Delays, Economic Issues, FL Lee County, Florida, Pre-Trial

PA County Seeks To Delay New Jail

April 12th, 2009
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pa-lancaster-county-jailIn January, a consultant told Lancaster County PA prison officials it would cost $169 million to build a new prison.  Next week, the same consultant will discuss the financial wisdom of abandoning the current prison entirely if a new prison is built.   Yet officials say that when it comes to dealing with the county’s prison overcrowding problem, they’ll be passing out thinking caps long before they break out any shovels.  Reported by LancasterOnline.

At next Thursday’s prison board meeting, L. Robert Kimball & Associates will outline for the board how much cheaper it would be to operate one big, new prison than to run the current prison and a scaled-down prison to be built somewhere else.  A January report prepared Kimball detailed the shortcomings of the circa-1851 prison at 625 E. King St., which  has a design capacity for 658 beds, but today is home to 1,143 prisoners.  That report discussed the projected need in 2025 for 2,114 prison beds, then laid out several scenarios to build a new prison. The most ambitious plan was for a new, 2,158-bed facility that would cost  $169.42 million to build, an amount roughly equal to the cost of the downtown hotel/convention center.  Yet most prison board members say the are now focused on how to save money, not how to spend it on a new prison …

“We’re just not going to build ourselves out of this problem right now when there’s other things we could be doing before we get to that point,” said County Commissioner Scott Martin.   Martin, who chairs the seven-member prison board, said streamlining some court operations and setting up a day-reporting center are among the options that would free up space at the East King Street prison, delaying the need for a new jail …

Among the improvements, [District Attorney Craig] Stedman said, would be to streamline the court’s scheduling system to get people to trial quicker, thereby cutting down on the number of prisoners who are waiting for a trial date.   In 2006, the Kimball report said the average stay in the county prison was 71 days, while adding that every day knocked off that average could reduce the daily prison population by 16 prisoners.  And since about 80 percent of prisoners in the county prison that year were awaiting trial, getting them through the court system quicker could free up a lot of space …

Commissioner Craig Lehman also highlighted the benefits of a day reporting center, which could be set up apart from the prison and include drug testing and job training services.  With such a center here, probation officers could send violators there instead of simply adding them to an already overcrowded prison, local officials say.

jakking Court Delays, Drug Treatment & Diversion, Economic Issues, Jail and Prison Construction, Overcrowding, PA Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Pre-Trial

New Court Speeding Process In Texas County

November 8th, 2008
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A newly formed county court is helping to speed up the wheels of justice while lowering its jail population, court officials say.

Jail court, which began in October, is the result of a plan from the Council of Judges to lower the number of prisoners in the Nueces County TX Jail awaiting trials. A visiting judge will preside over the court on the first and third Mondays of each month. The first jail court started Oct. 20. Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, administrative judge for the local district judges, said she already has seen the benefits of jail court. One defendant who had been in jail for 260 days was sent to jail court and his case was disposed. By referring that case to jail court, the judge was able to try another case at the same time in her court. That defendant had been in jail for 163 days …

Ramos said the Commissioners Court allocated about $71,000 for the jail court, which will be used to pay the visiting judges. There is no additional cost to the county for staffing the jail court because existing resources are being used — but some planning is required. Ramos’ court manager handles the referrals for cases from the district courts and prepares the lists of cases for jail court. The court administrator also makes sure there is a court reporter, clerk and bailiff available for each jail court.  The jail court’s location will depend on which courtroom is available that week, Ramos said.

More on this interesting development at the Caller Times.

jakking Court Delays, TX Neuces County

Justice Delayed Costs County Money

September 9th, 2008
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Justice should be swift and sure. But in Pinellas County FL, it would be more fitting to call the criminal justice system slow and costly.

Over the course of two decades, the time it takes to close a criminal case in Pinellas has increased dramatically. Example: In 1989, the typical robbery case took 96 days to wrap up in court. Now it’s 244.  This costs money. Two-thirds of the inmates at the county jail are not there serving time. They await trial. Each extra day they wait costs about $100 per inmate, according to Pinellas Sheriff’s Office figures.  Multiply that cost by 20 years and tens of thousands of extra jail days and it adds up to a financial hit for Pinellas taxpayers totaling tens of millions of dollars …

The county’s disposition rate — the percentage of defendants whose cases are closed in a year divided by the number whose cases are opened — has ranked worse than all of its large county peers and among the slowest statewide.  “We weren’t used to being anything other than frankly the most progressive here,” said Pinellas-Pasco Chief Judge Robert Morris. “We were humbled by that.”  Bernie McCabe, state attorney for the Pinellas-Pasco circuit, spoke for some in the system when he put the blame on a lack of awareness and “simple procrastination.”   He said the system as a whole — prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges — failed to manage their resources as efficiently as they should.  “I don’t think you can escape that,” McCabe said …

Now, officials said, they’ve infused day-to-day dealings with a new sense of urgency, cutting days here and there from the amount of time it takes to file charges or turn over discovery. A Violation of Probation court was established. There has been intermittent use of a “rocket docket” to pick off stagnating cases.   The courts lowered bond amounts across the board.  Said Morris, the chief judge: “We are taking risks with letting people out of jail … that a year ago we would have said, ‘You know the public doesn’t expect us to do this,’ but the message now from the public is, ‘There’s no money’”…

Today, Pinellas judges and prosecutors say they approach each case with a sense of urgency. And they say they’re committed not to let the system get out of whack again. A consultant hired by the county has been studying the problem and is supposed to present a final report this month.

These are extracts from a much longer article at the Tampa Bay Times.

jakking Court Delays, FL Pinellas County