[Some of you are interested in the county jail issue. The county has hired a consultant to do a needs assessment by April 2013. Here are some comments from that consultant. -kel]<div><br></div><div>"When we lock people up and take their freedoms away, we are committing a very difficult act"</div>
<div><br></div><div>"Now it is time to "further tighten the system" with programs that keep people out of jail" [here is talking about anger management classes or a hotel room to sleep off being drunk]</div>
<div><br>Below is the full News-Gazette article<br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br><div><div dir="ltr"><h2>Consultants: County manages jail population well, but can improve parts of justice system</h2>
<span><div><span>Tue, 12/18/2012 - 8:00am</span> | <span><a href="http://www.news-gazette.com/author/tom-kacich" target="_blank">Tom Kacich</a></span></div></span>
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<a href="http://static.news-gazette.com/sites/all/files/imagecache/lightbox_800_600_scale/images/2012/12/17/correctional_mu.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="The Champaign County jail building in downtown Urbana. (<a href="http://news-gazette.mycapture.com/mycapture/remoteimage.asp?image=http://assets.news-gazette.com/sites/all/files/images/2012/12/17/correctional_mu.jpg">Purchase a Print</a> | <a href="/image/2012-12-18/downtown-jail.html">More</a>)" target="_blank"><img alt="Downtown jail" title="Downtown jail" height="197" width="300"></a>
<div><small><strong>Photo by: The News-Gazette</strong></small></div>
<div><small>The Champaign County jail building in downtown Urbana.</small></div>
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<a href="http://static.news-gazette.com/sites/all/files/imagecache/lightbox_800_600_scale/images/2012/12/17/Ch_Co_jail_mu_6.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="The Champaign County satellite jail, 502 S. Lierman Ave., U. (<a href="http://news-gazette.mycapture.com/mycapture/remoteimage.asp?image=http://assets.news-gazette.com/sites/all/files/images/2012/12/17/Ch_Co_jail_mu_6.jpg">Purchase a Print</a> | <a href="/image/2012-12-18/satellite-jail.html">More</a>)" target="_blank"><img alt="Satellite jail" title="Satellite jail" height="68" width="100"></a></li>
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URBANA — Champaign County is doing a good job of managing its
jail population, consultants say, but it needs to improve "filtering"
the people who end up in the criminal justice system.<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
Representatives of the Berkeley, Calif.-based Institute of Law and
Policy Planning have been in Champaign County for more than a month,
interviewing people about the county's criminal justice system in
preparation for the release of a jail-needs assessment, due in late
April. The county is paying ILPP nearly $120,000 for the study.<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
One of the consultants, David Voorhis, told the county board last
week that the county has "a great opportunity here to make big changes
in your system.<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
"It's really apparent that the system, the sheriff and the courts in
particular have made strides in reducing the jail's population. But
there's a lot of work to be done in that jail, both jails. I don't speak
of just the downtown jail. That satellite jail really needs some help,
too," Voorhis, a former police chief in Boulder, Colo., told the county
board.<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
He did not elaborate, but both he and Alan Kalmanoff, the executive
director of ILPP, said the county "can further tighten its system."<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
"Eighty to 90 percent of the people that go into the county jail come
back out. They don't go into the prison system, only a very small part
go," Voorhis said. "That's the filtering process that county jails do,
which means you really need some good instruments in screening the right
people to go on, and you don't have those," he said of Champaign
County. "Those are really not in place, in my opinion."<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
Kalmanoff, in a separate interview, said the county's criminal
justice system "has gotten much faster in the last six or seven years.
And that's why you don't have (jail) crowding anymore. I haven't seen
the data yet but I predict, before I even look at it, that it won't be a
matter of more or less crime but rather it's faster processing."<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
That, he said, "is an enormous, enormous credit to this county, the
government, the criminal justice system and particularly the presiding
judge."<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
Now it is time to "further tighten the system" with programs that keep people out of jail, Kalmanoff said.<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
"That might mean a day reporting center. Not a residential center but
a place where people report to with their bag lunch to take anger
management programs and to take an alcohol and drug program," he said.
"Or it might mean putting someone in for drunk driving in a motel
because the drunk driver who's sober isn't driving and drinking. Why do
you need (jail) bars? All you need is a hitching post."<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
"You've got a chance to really make a change in the criminal justice
system," Voorhis said. "I'm often shocked by what counties do across
this nation to perpetuate 200 years of the same kind of jails."<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
Neither man indicated they were ready to recommend closing the
much-maligned, 32-year-old downtown Urbana jail that is across Main
Street from the county courthouse. That's the course backed by, among
others, Sheriff Dan Walsh.<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
But, said Voorhis, "I'm not saying don't build a jail. I'm just saying build right, plan, participate."<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
Said Kalmanoff, "If you have two facilities you're spending more than you would with the same number of beds under one roof."<br>
<b><br></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>And he said the satellite jail in east Urbana "isn't falling apart.</b>
It has a core. It has a kitchen. It has some of the things that are
expensive, so one would think that one could make something out of that.
We'll have to see. We're going to be looking at that, and we'll do some
architectural and planning analysis of that."<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
Walsh— who said he's already talked to Kalmanoff, Voorhis and a third
consultant about the county jail facilities — noted that the satellite
jail "was designed so that you can add pods," and that's what he
believes should be done.<br>
<b><br></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>"My position since about 2003 or 2004 has been that (the downtown
jail) has huge problems. Something significant needs to be done. I am
not a contractor, but I think the most logical thing is to add on to the
satellite," Walsh said. "It is probably much more economical and
efficient to do everything out there."</b><br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
Meanwhile, Kalmanoff said he's kept busy interviewing people interested in the justice system.<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
"There's nobody we won't talk to," he said. "I've already talked to
probably 20 people and I've only been here twice. I have other people
working here too. By the time we're done, I'm sure we will have talked
to at least 100 people."<br><br></div><div dir="ltr">
And Voorhis urged the 22 county board members to dive into the jail issue.<br>
"When we lock people up and take their freedoms away, we are
committing a very difficult act under the sanction of the county," he
said. "So I'm asking you to participate. Don't leave this study to be
completed by ILPP and wait for the response. There's a lot of time
between now and when this report comes out. I ask for your continued
involvement."<br> </div></div>
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