[OccupyCU] points for the May 11 jail discussion

[Michael Weissman]

I'm going to be out of town May 11, when the Occupy GA moves to the Urbana
City Building forum on the county jail issue. A couple people asked for a
written version of the points I keep making on this issue, in case anybody
else wants to raise some of them.

I think that there could be quick consensus on certain issues that would
allow major progress to be made quickly, Important issues would be left,
but this would be a big start. The figures here are approximate and should
be refined by people more closely involved in the issue.

1. No one thinks that there would be any significant construction before
say 2016 at the earliest. Therefore there is no immediate need at all to
consider what sort of construction should be done. Everyone agrees that
efforts should be made to reduce the jail population. There's time to get
started on those efforts *first* and see how much progress is being made *
before* going further with any construction plans, whose nature will depend
greatly on what the jail population will be. The opposite order- plan
construction first, then figure out how many cells are needed later- is a
classic sentence-first, verdict later absurdity.

2. Roughly 60 pre-trial prisoners are currently in the jail. Most are
bail-eligible although they have not met bail. Many of these (guesstimate:
30) could be released with a GPS ankle-braclet program, without any changes
in penal law. The Board can purchase these devices at minimal expense and
the Sheriff should be able to monitor released prisoners for less than it
costs to incarcerate them. The Board can also express to the local
judiciary that it intends for these devices to be used, in part for the
sake of the taxpayers. Taking this step *very rapidly* might be taken as an
important sign of good will in a community that is getting pretty
contentious.

3. Roughly 50 post-sentencing prisoners are in jail only because of an
unfortunate court decision forbidding the use of ankle bracelets for
certain sentences. Our local state legislators are working on legislation
to undo that decision. The Board has no control over state legislation, but
can urge passage of this legislation and can communicate with other county
boards to encourage their state legislators as well.

4.  If these measures succeed, and there is no obvious financial, social,
or political reason why they wouldn't, then the jail population would
be *reduced
by more than the population of the downtown jail*. Therefore no satellite
expansion would be required even if the downtown jail were closed, although
issues about configuration of the satellite jail would remain. Even if
remodeling were chosen, it would be a lot easier if the downtown jail could
be emptied for a while.

5. The prosecutors in this county bring more serious charges than in
comparable counties for comparable offenses. These over-charges can result
in excessive sentences and discourage judges from using bail appropriately.
This problem is more responsible for tensions in the community than are the
jail conditions themselves. The Board has no direct control over the
prosecutions but can request that charges be brought more in line with
comparable counties. Any moves in that direction would help enhance the
effects of both points (2) and (3).

6. (People with more knowledge of the situation should particularly check
whether or not what I've heard is accurate on this point.) I've been told
that there are a number of people doing time for failure to pay fines, via
the intermediate step of "contempt of court."  Apparently the county has at
times tried some sort of diversion program by which people can work off
fines, for example by cleaning MTD buses, or picking up trash along the
road or in parks, etc. There could be a somewhat flexible schedule, work
conditions with no embarrassing uniforms or other insults, and no
incarceration unless someone persists in refusing to participate. However,
there doesn't seem to be a lot of follow-through on these ideas. They
obviously seem better in many ways than building more cells and locking up
more people.


Good luck to everybody on Friday.
-- 
Michael Weissman
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