By C1 Staff
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Inmate work crews are no longer allowed within a 1-mile radius of 31 areas of Jacksonville without law enforcement supervision, due to a rise in crime.
The Sheriff’s Office decided that the city’s public works supervisors were no longer capable enough of handling the work crews, as the county jail saw a spike in contraband, reports The Florida Times-Union.
The areas are believed to be hotspots for drug and gang activity.
But the public works director, Jim Robinson, says the work crews are needed to free up city employees to do other work and the areas the inmates are now banned from aren’t accessible by machinery.
This decision won’t affect work crews supervised by Sheriff’s Office personnel.
Councilman John Crescimbeni was surprised to learn of the decision, and said he thought the inmates were supervised and then searched before they returned to the facility.
Robinson hopes to work out a compromise with the Sheriff’s Office to get the work crews back into place. The city doesn’t use as many inmates as before due to declining inmate populations and its own manpower limitations.