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| N.Y. County Ordered to Fix Jail Plan |
| By Newsday |
| Published: 01/02/2003 |
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Suffolk County has two months to come up with a solid plan to house the hundreds of inmates overcrowding its correctional facilities, a state agency said yesterday, or it will have to pick up the hefty tab for shipping prisoners outside the county. Representatives from the New York State Commission of Corrections told the legislature's public safety committee yesterday that Suffolk had been too slow in providing sufficient jail space and that the state would by February take away Suffolk's authority to house more inmates than capacity allows. 'This state of affairs will not be allowed to continue indefinitely,' said James Lawrence, the commission's director of operations. While Lawrence praised Suffolk's efforts to reduce the jail population, calling the county 'one of the leaders' in alternatives to incarceration programs, he added that the number of people kept out of the system by those programs had probably plateaued, and that quick jail construction was the only solution. Since 1995, Suffolk has received waivers from the state to relieve overcrowding by allowing it to double-cell prisoners and use exercise space as make-shift sleeping quarters. Lawrence indicated that unless Suffolk is in negotiations with an architect for a plan to accommodate most of the extra prisoners by February, the commission would not renew those waivers. The facility in Riverhead was designed to hold 770 inmates, while the Yaphank facility was supposed to hold 558. In recent years, Lawrence said, the prison population has consistently exceeded the 1,350 combined capacity by anywhere from 5 to 500 inmates. Sheriff's Department Chief Alan Otto said out-of-county housing costs for over-capacity prisoners would amount to about $1.02 million a month should the county be forced to stick to the capacity guidelines. 'That doesn't even include travel and overtime,' he said. Legis. Angie Carpenter (R-West Islip) and members of the legislature have tried to fast-track plans to provide 280 new inmate beds at the county's correctional facility in Yaphank. State officials cautioned, however, that even that wouldn't be enough. A measure appropriating $1.3 million to begin planning for the project will come before the full legislature Tuesday. The entire project should cost about $40 million. Others, including Legis. Joseph Caracappa (R-Selden) and David Bishop (D-West Babylon) have opposed committing those funds before a long-awaited needs assessment study is conducted. 'I will not be bullied into voting for something before we know what our needs are,' Bishop said. The comprehensive study, which would examine jail population trends, has been stalled for nearly three years, but also will come before lawmakers next week. When Caracappa said Suffolk County would need time to look at the study, Lawrence replied, 'Time's up.' |
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