As long as we want to lock up so many and as long as there are state imposed standards on prison crowding, Jefferson County will continue to spend a lot of money putting prisoners elsewhere. Thats not all, either....There must be a cost carting inmates back and forth to court appearances. The gasoline tab much be staggering.
Its hard to make this a political issue since at best two or three of the fifteen County Legislature seats will be contested. Nonetheless, it does seem like we need to either have fewer people in jail or more room to keep them.
Watertown Daily Times Neighbors too full to take Jefferson's prisoner overload
8 comments:
Hey Jeff you should worry about the city more like say the audit. You are quick to determine you are not writing about that or commenting about it as you have to "digest it" but you are determined to weigh in on county issues.
Time to mind your own house - it is glass!
Crime rates are at an all time low in our country because we lock up the couple percent of people that are complete douche bags.
It is worth the cost.
But it could be done much cheaper.
If it were not for state mandates then we could just put them in our own jail.
Gas cost is nothing...our kids have to pay tax free pensions to these hard working taxi drivers until they die in Florida.
Crime goes up, criminals follow that number - and then we complain about no place to lock 'em up? Yet in good times, manh advocate to more and bigger and better jails.
We want our cake and eat it, too. Life does not work that way; yet, many also complain about prevention... the cycle continues.
I think the jail needs to be done, but let's do away with the "Toys", K9, Boat, Snowmobiles, Atv's, let's get back to basics.
Put the violent crime suspects in state prison, until thier trial date. Would use up empty beds at state prisons, free up local/county bed space. Come-on sheriff , use your head; why build ,for what may be already available. Remember, you build it, who is gonna maintain it, long after you are gone?
Another article in the Times today about expanding the jail. It appears that our legislators have finally woken up to Burns. Bravo to Mr. Docteur and Mr. Reed. They seem to be taking the time to analyze the cost vs. benefits of expanding the jail.
Outboarding is an issue, but how can we ignore the other waste under Sheriff Burns
Toys, toys , toys. Boat, Jet Skis, Snowmobiles, and ATVs. Party time Sheriff style.
Consider the whole locker room issue. That is another screw up by Burns that taxpayers will have to fix. He said it had to be done his way, and HE WAS WRONG. We are now paying to have the facility cleaned. Why shouldn’t we be expecting inmates to clean the facility?????? The Sheriff is already looking for a scapegoat to blame for his incompetence.
The Sheriff has proven that you can’t rely on his judgment on these issues. The county needs to hire the right people to look at the overall operation of the department and make recommendations on everything including the expansion.
Who cares about if they are crowded? They are there because they deserve to be crowded, they deserve to be uncomfortable. They should be adequetly clothed and fed the minimum calories to keep them healthy and nothing more. That Arizona Sheriff has it right. But it will never happen here.
The Headline should read "Sheriff's Dept. Getting To expensive".
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