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| County OKs Bid Process for Jail |
| By Mark Swanson , theretrospect.com |
| Published: 01/29/2010 |
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After over two hours of objections from the public, the Camden County Freeholder Board approved a resolution which authorizes a consultant to draw up specifications for a new county jail. The specifications are the first step toward the creation of a new county jail – somewhere. The specifications, to be drawn up by Pulitzer/Bogard & Associates of New York, will be used to solicit firms for proposals for a new jail. The new jail, said Director Lou Cappelli, would be built and run by a private firm. So far, Cappelli and the freeholder board have promised that any town that opposes hosting the new jail within its borders would have not have it built there. Cappelli also reasoned that if the county were to build its own new jail to replace the overcrowded one in Camden, it would cost about $400 million. Paying a private company a per diem rate for each inmate would be much cheaper than the debt service and operational cost of a publicly run jail, he said. But members of the public, about 200 area residents along with corrections officers from all over the state at the Brooklawn American Legion Post, weren’t buying his reasoning. Haddon Heights resident Steve Gable told Cappelli that “saving money was a great thing,” but he wondered whether the county’s object was purely on saving money. Uniformed guards for a private jail, added Gable, would not be corrections officers. Any time there were a problem situation, the guards would have to “call 911” so that police officers could respond. That response, he said, would take minutes, not seconds. “What about the first dead inmate who gets shanked?” asked Gable. He asked that he freeholder board think about that potential situation before they let go corrections officers. Susan Dunbar-Bey, a school board member from Camden, said she was very concerned about a jail in Camden. The county, she said, needs to support the Camden community and think about the children and families in the area before they decide to situate a new jail there. Esther Gross, speaking on behalf of the Morgan Village Association, said that putting a privately run jail in Camden would run even more businesses out of town. Camden, she added, is trying to build its tax base – “but Camden’s not allowed to grow. I don’t understand the logic and the thinking.” Many corrections officers and their families members spoke out against the resolution. Diane Jones, the wife of a corrections officer, asked Cappelli if the company the board was hiring, Pulitzer/Bogard, was the same one that inmates had hired to help sue the county. Cappelli admitted that it was. Read More. |
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