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| Experts seek ways to ease Ky. jail crowding |
| By The Courier-Journal |
| Published: 10/06/2003 |
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Two consultants were in Floyd County, Ky., this week to study ways the county can reduce the demands on its jail space - and perhaps defer a costly expansion project. Floyd County Sheriff Randy Hubbard asked for the consultants' help this past summer, at a time when the jail's state-approved capacity was 166 and it regularly housed 200 inmates or more. Hubbard was concerned then that he would soon have to ask county government to expand the jail, and he was looking for ways to defer that as long as possible. Since then, Hubbard said, the state has reviewed the jail's floor plans and increased its capacity to 234 prisoners. Just this week Hubbard finished adding the bunks needed for that many inmates. The situation thus has eased, Hubbard said, but it's impossible to know how long that will last. Billy F. Wasson, one of two consultants who were in the county from Monday night through yesterday afternoon, declined to estimate how much the population at the jail might be reduced by the recommendations that he and his colleague will make to the county in about two weeks. But he said the 234 inmates allowed by the state should represent a peak, with the county aiming at an average daily population of 200 to allow for seasonal or daily swings in numbers.. If the jail population keeps increasing, Wasson said, sudden surges in the number of people jailed could lead to the kind of crowding that could prompt a violent incident. Or there could be the risk of a federal lawsuit claiming civil-rights violations because of jail conditions. Those conditions are good now, Wasson said. "The jail was clean, very orderly and, from all appearances, very well run," he said. Wasson and the other consultant, Diane Moore, are from the National Institute of Corrections, a unit of the U.S. Department of Justice that provides training, technical assistance and other information to federal, state and local corrections agencies. The county won't be charged for their help. |
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