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| Altering jail rules could aid expenses |
| By Evening Times |
| Published: 05/23/2005 |
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Crittenden County, Ark., Jail Administrator Mickey Thornton has asked for the help of the Crittenden County Quorum Court with some problems at the jail. At Tuesday's meeting, Thornton explained that according to the state inspector the facility passed a recent inspection "with flying colors," but there are other problems at the jail that need to be addressed. He asked the court to revisit some of their earlier decisions and also to think about changing some of the rules when it comes to housing prisoners. The problem is, just like what most of the county's problems are, money. Thornton said that it currently costs $105 a day to house an inmate, not including any medical expenses. "These inmates that are here on misdemeanors and have no money have to sit out their fines and costs and earn $40 a day against them. These prisoners that end up with three misdemeanor charges can get up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for each charge, which in some cases can mean 3 years and $3,000 to pay," said Thornton. "These $2,000 to $3,000 fines being paid of at $40 a day are killing us." Thornton asked the court members to talk with their local judges, and more importantly the local police departments and ask that when it comes to minor traffic violations to issue citations instead of taking someone to jail. Currently, it is left up to the officer's discretion or the police department policy on charges such as suspended drivers license whether a jail trip is mandatory or not. By law, citations can be issued without sending the person to jail. Thornton said that in many cases the arrestees are being tased and pepper- sprayed before being brought in which also ends up in medical bills that the county is responsible for. He said that he has begun to require that any inmate that is tased or sprayed must be medically checked off by hospital or ambulance personnel because if not, the first thing that the inmate requests after being booked is a trip to the emergency room. Other inmates have medical issues that they decide to address while they are in jail because the medical care is free, which ends up costing the county hundreds of thousands of dollars on an almost monthly basis. Thornton suggested that a change in the rules may be in order when it comes to accepting some misdemeanor inmates. Another problem he addressed was inmates who are mental health patients. "These smaller cities think that the county jail is a dumping ground. They don't know what to do with these mental patients so they charge them with something such as loitering just to get them out of town," said Thornton. Those patients, and other misdemeanor prisoners who have fines and costs and don't have the money to pay them must sit out their fines in jail earning $40 a day towards them. In some cases, Thornton said that the county would come out cheaper to go and pay the fines and get half of it back from the court system than to pay the $105 a day to house them. |
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