In a budget-related fight with Florida DOC, Broward County Sheriff’s Department is refusing to transport certain probation violators to jail.
A convicted robber, two drug offenders and five other people who normally would have been put behind bars went free in recent weeks — all because the Broward Sheriff’s Office said it doesn’t have the money to drive them to jail. Under a new policy that the state is criticizing as dangerous and illegal, the Sheriff’s Office is trying to economize by no longer transporting to jail certain people accused of violating probation, according to agency memos. The Sheriff’s Office, which is bracing for budget cuts, says the Florida Department of Corrections, which oversees people on probation, needs to transport such violators on its own …
Sheriff’s Lt. Col. Wright wrote in a recent memo that the rapid expansion of the Sheriff’s Office has strained resources dedicated to jail transport. The Sheriff’s Office also is getting ready for further budget cuts after Florida voters on Jan. 29 approved a constitutional amendment intended to reduce property taxes.
As you can imagine, the DOC is none too happy with this move. Read all the details in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
vericatrajkova Community Corrections, FL Broward County, Florida
Broward County FL is planning to significantly expand pre-releases in order to save money.
The expansion of the pretrial release program is expected to allow the county to delay building a new jail for at least two years. The 1,000-bed jail would cost $60 million to build and $30 million a year to run. County commissioners have pressed for alternatives to building the jail because of concern the state could order a second round of property tax relief this year …
The Broward Sheriff’s Office will receive an extra $1.4 million to begin the pretrial release expansion. An additional 25 employees will be hired by 2009 to handle the extra releases. By the end of that year, the county expects 1,000 more people in the program that typically encompasses 1,600 releases.
More detail from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
vericatrajkova Electronic Monitoring, FL Broward County, Pre-Trial