By C1 Staff
ITHACA, NY — It’s an unusual alliance on an even more unusual topic — former corrections officers and inmates protesting a county jail expansion.
The Tompkins County Jail Expansion Coalition was formed last summer in response to the county’s proposed seven-bed expansion currently estimated to cost around $900,000, according to The Ithaca.
The group has been steadily protesting and speaking out against the expansion, believing that the county needs to focus on more alternatives to incarceration.
“Ithaca is leading the way in using alternatives to incarceration and reentry programs, so it just doesn’t make sense to now switch 180 degrees and expand the jail instead,” said coalition member Jaimi Hendrix.
Financial concerns are another part of the protest.
“The contingency on the first phase is only 10 percent. That is not only unrealistic,” said former Florida corrections officer Joanne Cipolla, “it proves that they are not using real numbers.
“Board-outs are down according to my recent conversation with Sheriff [Ken] Lansing.”
The coalition supports the expansion of alternatives to incarceration, such as the creation of “a concerted buddy system along the model of Cortland’s Wishing Wellness Center.”
But the expansion may be necessary for the facility for other reasons. Sheriff Lansing notes that the beds are needed to alleviate the need to board out inmates, a practice that is both costly to the county and unduly strenuous for the inmates.
Lansing voiced his support for alternatives to incarceration and added, “This county is very cognizant of alternatives to incarceration. The reality is sometimes that isn’t enough.”