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| Jail staff to be requested |
| By The San Angelo Standard-Times |
| Published: 07/10/2006 |
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CONCHO VALLEY, TX - Adding personnel in two county departments could help reduce jail overcrowding within 60 days of implementing the new people, one department head said last week. Officials from the District Clerk's office, district judges and officials from the Concho Valley Community Supervision & Corrections Department will ask commissioners Tuesday for staff increases designed to speed up paperwork and increase the number of inmates that can be released into alternative incarceration programs. The ideas came from a brainstorming session county officials had two weeks ago to discuss the issue of jail overcrowding. During Tuesday's meeting, the CSCD will ask for $140,000 to add two field officers, one more probation officer, two vehicles, supplies and equipment, said John Wilmoth, director of the CSCD program. He said increasing the staffing by that much could save the county $600,000 or more in incarceration costs. The department has four field officers, two probation officers and a supervisor. ''We need to get to the root of the problem and what is creating jail overcrowding,'' Wilmoth said. ''Is it a trend, or something short term? If it's short term, maybe this will fix it. If not, maybe there needs to be jail expansion.'' District judges also have asked that the District Clerk's office get four additional staffers to help move cases through the court system more quickly. ''We're looking for solutions and better ways,'' said Sheri Woodfin, the district clerk. ''It's time to make a change. We are willing to work on the process, and it will take a lot of people working together. We have to figure out a whole lot of things so we can make a difference.'' Two commissioners said last week they don't know how they will vote on the issue. Steve Floyd said he is receptive to any new ideas that might reduce jail crowding, but wants to hear details first. Karl Bookter, Precinct 2 commissioner, said he didn't know if simply adding more personnel would stop the influx of inmates into the jail. ''It's a society problem,'' Bookter said. ''If you can't find the reason, you are going to keep getting the same results. I wish I had the answer. I thought with the new jail we would be good for 10 to 15 years, but we're not. There is an upward spiral. That's the sad truth.'' The alternative incarceration program saves the county $1.9 million a year it would otherwise spend for keeping inmates in the Tom Green County jail and, when that jail is full, sending them to jails in other counties, Wilmoth said. The county spends about $35 per inmate, plus the cost of transporting the inmates, when it uses other county jails. Adding personnel will allow the alternative incarceration program to supervise more people that otherwise would be in jail, he said. Expansion of the program staffing would save an additional $600,000 to $900,000, depending on how many people go through the program, Wilmoth said. The corrections department oversees the County House Arrest Program (CHAP), a house arrest program for misdemeanor offenders; Community Housing Extended Curfew (CHEC), a similar program for felony offenders; and pretrial felony bond releases. About 60 people go through the CHAP program a month and 20 others go through the CHEC program, assistant director Arnold Patrick said. Last year, Wilmoth said, 300 people were released on pretrial bonds. Program officials hope to increase the pretrial felony releases to 450 inmates if the program is expanded, Wilmoth said. Under that program, inmates with no dangerous criminal history can be released and supervised instead of staying in jail awaiting trial. Those people are supervised until they go to trial. Field officers, who usually work 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., routinely check on people in the alternative incarceration programs to make sure they are ''doing what they are supposed to be doing,'' Wilmoth said. |
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