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| Moving Inmates is Costly for Jail |
| By By Thomas Geyer |
| Published: 03/05/2003 |
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Scott County's need for a new jail is not just an economic issue, it is a moral one as well, insists Sheriff's Maj. Cliff Tebbitt, the jail's administrator. Given a proper facility - not only beds and cells but classrooms, counselors and teachers - the cycle of crime 'can stop right here,' he said. Breaking the crime cycle is the moral duty of every resident of Scott County, he added. An average of 36 inmates are housed elsewhere on any given day because of a lack of bed space. And because the more-than-100-year-old jail was designed only for incarceration and not rehabilitation, 'We lose the ability to influence (prisoners), to help them change, for us to make a difference,' Tebbitt said. 'If you're an inmate here and nothing is done, the propensity is that you'll come out worse,' he said. Inmates who can take advantage of education, counseling and programs that help them develop talents, build life skills and discover their self-worth are much less likely to commit crimes when they're released, Tebbitt said. That is at the crux of what the Community Jail Alternative's Advisory Committee, or CJAAC, will tell the Scott County Board of Supervisors during today's 8 a.m. meeting at the courthouse. The committee was formed not long after a $48 million jail referendum failed in 1998, County Administrator Ray Wierson said. 'We did a survey after the referendum, and the No. 1 reason it failed was the price tag - sticker shock,' he said. 'But there also was a segment of the community that felt they didn't have a hand in the decision.' That is when the county formed CJAAC, and the county board listens carefully to the committee, he added. What CJAAC has documented is what just about everyone involved in Scott County's justice system has been saying all along, Wierson said. 'The people sentenced to jail will be there less than a year,' he said. 'They will be going back into the community. If the jail staff can have the resources to have a positive impact on the inmates' lives, we will reduce recidivism. 'The people being released will have the tools and skills to have lives that are more fulfilling and be better husbands and wives and parents. They will become responsible taxpayers and the public safety in Scott County in the long run will be much improved.' Housing costs mount Sheriff Dennis Conard said people who insist a new jail is too costly should consider the cost of housing Scott County inmates elsewhere. In the current budget for fiscal year 2003, which began July 1, $400,000 was earmarked for housing inmates in other counties' facilities to avoid overcrowding. As of Dec. 31, $349,440 already had been spent, according to numbers supplied to the Quad-City Times by the sheriff's department. That figure does not include some miscellaneous expenses Scott County is being charged for some inmates. If the same pace holds for the next six months, the jail will have spent about $700,000 housing prisoners elsewhere. Conard noted that inmate housing costs have been rising dramatically. In fiscal year 2001, the jail spent $175,930 to board inmates outside the county. In fiscal year 2002, that cost jumped to $265,248. And the problem is only going to get worse, he said. Related additional costs include transporting inmates to and from another county jail for court appearances, along with wages and benefits for two full-time sheriff's department staff members whose only duty is to transport inmates. Meanwhile, nothing is being done to fight recidivism, Conard said. |
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