iBy SARA SEMELKA
Columbia Daily Tribune
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The number of inmates housed outside of the Boone County Jail because of overcrowding was about 10 times higher in June than one year ago, and the cost of holding and transporting these individuals is putting a squeeze on the county budget.
Capt. Keith Hoskins of the Boone County Sheriff’s Department said the jail has an operating capacity of about 182 beds, and when the population gets much higher than that, the department has to look outside the county to house inmates. Although the jail population fluctuates each day, county data show an average of about 50 inmates were housed outside of the jail in June, compared to about five inmates in June 2007.
According to data from the Boone County auditor’s office, the county spent about $15,350 on inmate housing outside of the jail last year. So far this year, more than $82,000 has been spent out of $300,000 budgeted for that purpose.
Why are there so many more inmates and what can be done to bring those numbers down?
Judge Gary Oxenhandler said that is a question with 1,000 answers.
“We’ve had a hard time ... identifying the cause of this increase,” Oxenhandler said during a jail task force meeting last week.
Law enforcement officers have said last year’s low numbers were an anomaly and a recent spike in violent crimes in the city and county is part of the reason more people are in jail.
“One reason might be that law enforcement, due to spike in violent crime, is being more proactive,” Hoskins said. “Being more proactive, there are more contacts, we run more people through the system and there is a better percentage of getting a hit on a warrant.”
Sheriff’s Maj. Tom Redden yesterday said a two-person team was established at the first of the year to patrol high-activity areas where calls for service concerning drugs and violent crime were prevalent.
“That’s just a small aspect,” Redden said. “There are so many things that go together: violent felonies, misdemeanors, people serving” sentences, “pre-trial status and the number of people arrested.”
Another factor is higher bond amounts and cash-only bonds. Boone County Prosecutor Dan Knight said of the 29 requests for cash-only bonds he has made this year, 24 were for offenders who were on parole or probation, had another pending case or had an immigration detainer.
“I think this is the logical result of population increase and increased law enforcement,” he said. “I’m going to continue to file charges where there is a violation of state law. I will ask for jail sentences when I believe it’s important for the person to be sentenced for the safety of the community or as a deterrent. I do understand problems with overcrowding, and I’ll do my best job to prioritize.”
Knight said there also is an economic impact when people who should be incarcerated are not in jail and commit crimes in downtown areas. People are not going to want to shop or come downtown if they do not feel safe, he said.
Task force members said because of the many causes of overcrowding, there is no magic bullet that can bring the numbers down.
Options include more efficient use of home detention, something task force members said should be explored. Local attorney and task force member Rusty Antel gained support from judges and the sheriff when he suggested a “triage” approach in which representative from court services and the prosecutor’s and defender’s offices would weekly evaluate nonviolent inmates and request that judges allow individuals be released from custody.
Another way to chip away at the problem is the establishment of a docket specifically for domestic violence cases to be handled by a single judge on certain dates. Because of the many parties involved, including victim advocates, Judge Deborah Daniels said domestic violence cases often hit roadblocks when all interested parties are not in the courtroom, which can lead to continuations.
“My hope is that by establishing a docket where these cases can get scheduled together, the resources that are already existing can be concentrated in one place to give people the opportunity to reach some sort of resolution sooner, rather than later,” Daniels said. She hopes schedule change can happen in early fall.
“I don’t think we need any more people or physical space; we just need to facilitate the communication between existing people that we have. This teeny, tiny change will not solve all problems of jail overcrowding, but it’s something everyone is comfortable with happening. And to the extent that people get out of jail Tuesday rather than week from Tuesday - that makes some difference.”
Copyright 2008 ProQuest Information and Learning