ragland
06-08-2004, 02:06 PM
read this article from my hometown of fayetteville arkansas and you MIGHT end up feeling like you work for the state.
Looking At Jails, Change
Sheriff Owen Has Unique Perspective
Friday, May 28, 2004
Column By Brenda Blagg
Recent discussions in Fayetteville about closing the city's jail prompt a few thoughts on long-term change in county law enforcement in Northwest Arkansas.
The changes are significant and apply to all facets of county sheriff's offices, but some of the most staggering have come with the expansion of county jails.
The only reason Fayetteville can even consider closing its lockup is the fact that Washington County, like Benton County before it, is about to open a much larger jail, one with enough capacity to handle a misdemeanant population.
Population growth in the region, as with most other expansions in Northwest Arkansas, is the root of change. More people, more crime, more police, more arrests, more need for jails: each follows the other and the counties have necessarily responded.
Overall budgets for sheriffs' offices and jails in the two counties are huge. Benton County has budgeted better than $9.5 million for this year, roughly half of which is for its jail. Washington County's sheriff's office is spending around $9 million now and expects to be spending $12 million annually within two to three years.
Sheriff Lee Owen, appointed recently to fill out Steve Whitmill's term in Washington County, can put a perspective on those numbers unlike anyone else around.
Owen was Benton County's elected sheriff from 1967 until May 1970, when he resigned to accept appointment as a federal marshal. He jokes now that he's finishing that term in Washington County.
While Owen can't pull an exact figure from his memory of 37 years ago, he suspects this year's $9.5 million Benton County sheriff's budget is roughly 100 times more than his office had way back then.The county was much smaller and times were different.
Jail conditions were "deplorable," he said. Jails were unsanitary and unhealthy and the situation remained unchanged until counties were sued and jail standards came into being and were enforced.
Law enforcement also changed dramatically, much of it a result of the training of officers. Training is a continuing process now but was nonexistent when Owen accepted a police job in Siloam Springs.
When Owen asked his chief about going to training, he learned this state had no academy to teach him Arkansas law.
"You know right from wrong, don't you?" asked his new chief. He found out then that an officer "just did what you was big enough to do," trying to sort right from wrong.
Development of an Arkansas police academy and a process for the continuing education of officers in all agencies are what have most advanced law enforcement over the decades, he said.
Jail standards, albeit forced through litigation, similarly altered how prisoners are treated.
Forty years ago, Owen said, the Siloam Springs jail had two cells separated by a door. There was a toilet and a wash basin in one of them. When the city held juveniles, they'd be locked into that cell. A five-gallon bucket served the needs of adults held in the other cell.
Today's jails are nothing like that. Sheriffs still get sued over jail conditions and he's inherited a lot of lawsuits, Owen said; but prisoners seldom win them because the counties are doing so much better meeting standards.Washington County's new jail is actually scheduled for completion in November and is supposed to be ready for occupancy in January. By then, if Fayetteville chooses to do so, it could start shuttling all of its prisoners to the county.
Given the liability involved, few cities have any desire to hold prisoners any longer than necessary. They've long recognized that, while counties are obligated to have jails, cities aren't.
Cities traditionally kept their own jails because counties didn't do such a good job and because the city lockups were a convenience to a city's officers and residents. But other factors -- most notably more frequent and stricter jail inspections as well as rising operational costs -- have caused a lot of cities, especially smaller ones, to close city jails or restrict their use.
The same jail standards pushed counties to improve county jails, put more effort into staffing them and rebuild county sheriffs' offices to recognize their growing responsibility in jail management.
For the record, Benton County's cities have been sending felony and misdemeanor detainees over to the Benton County jail for a while now, using what remains of city lockups to hold prisoners only briefly. The same can be expected in Washington County eventually. Small cities already rely on the county jail and Fayetteville may soon follow.
heres my point, the govt never pays out money for something they arent either MADE to do or do out of pure greed....it seems to me that if my hometown of small has a budget of this size then all of your hometowns have a budget around that....break out the calculators and figure what each county in america has on their budget for the millions of dollars spent on JUST the county jails.....some one isnt telling us the whole story, id love for them to break down the numbers of how it would affect the overall budget in America if we ACTUALLY rehabilitated inmates and had crime so low that they couldnt afford these multi-million dollar budgets.....i hope i just made sense cause i surely do in my own mind....it just makes me think that our inmates are an ESSENTIAL part of the govt's financial means....without them, they wouldnt need millions, BUT, i almost think they are too scared to put their money where their mouth is and actually fight crime....then what would they do to make money, cause ya just know that they arent fixing to pay for squat if there isnt something in it for them. the only reason we dont have to pay for the lil poles they use to pick up trash on the side of the road is cause the govt is getting the labor free...id just love to see them do something to stop crime from climbing to the heights that it does each year. somebody somewhere is making money off this multi-billion dollar a year biz of housing inmates....its not me so i figure i must be reporting for duty!!
Looking At Jails, Change
Sheriff Owen Has Unique Perspective
Friday, May 28, 2004
Column By Brenda Blagg
Recent discussions in Fayetteville about closing the city's jail prompt a few thoughts on long-term change in county law enforcement in Northwest Arkansas.
The changes are significant and apply to all facets of county sheriff's offices, but some of the most staggering have come with the expansion of county jails.
The only reason Fayetteville can even consider closing its lockup is the fact that Washington County, like Benton County before it, is about to open a much larger jail, one with enough capacity to handle a misdemeanant population.
Population growth in the region, as with most other expansions in Northwest Arkansas, is the root of change. More people, more crime, more police, more arrests, more need for jails: each follows the other and the counties have necessarily responded.
Overall budgets for sheriffs' offices and jails in the two counties are huge. Benton County has budgeted better than $9.5 million for this year, roughly half of which is for its jail. Washington County's sheriff's office is spending around $9 million now and expects to be spending $12 million annually within two to three years.
Sheriff Lee Owen, appointed recently to fill out Steve Whitmill's term in Washington County, can put a perspective on those numbers unlike anyone else around.
Owen was Benton County's elected sheriff from 1967 until May 1970, when he resigned to accept appointment as a federal marshal. He jokes now that he's finishing that term in Washington County.
While Owen can't pull an exact figure from his memory of 37 years ago, he suspects this year's $9.5 million Benton County sheriff's budget is roughly 100 times more than his office had way back then.The county was much smaller and times were different.
Jail conditions were "deplorable," he said. Jails were unsanitary and unhealthy and the situation remained unchanged until counties were sued and jail standards came into being and were enforced.
Law enforcement also changed dramatically, much of it a result of the training of officers. Training is a continuing process now but was nonexistent when Owen accepted a police job in Siloam Springs.
When Owen asked his chief about going to training, he learned this state had no academy to teach him Arkansas law.
"You know right from wrong, don't you?" asked his new chief. He found out then that an officer "just did what you was big enough to do," trying to sort right from wrong.
Development of an Arkansas police academy and a process for the continuing education of officers in all agencies are what have most advanced law enforcement over the decades, he said.
Jail standards, albeit forced through litigation, similarly altered how prisoners are treated.
Forty years ago, Owen said, the Siloam Springs jail had two cells separated by a door. There was a toilet and a wash basin in one of them. When the city held juveniles, they'd be locked into that cell. A five-gallon bucket served the needs of adults held in the other cell.
Today's jails are nothing like that. Sheriffs still get sued over jail conditions and he's inherited a lot of lawsuits, Owen said; but prisoners seldom win them because the counties are doing so much better meeting standards.Washington County's new jail is actually scheduled for completion in November and is supposed to be ready for occupancy in January. By then, if Fayetteville chooses to do so, it could start shuttling all of its prisoners to the county.
Given the liability involved, few cities have any desire to hold prisoners any longer than necessary. They've long recognized that, while counties are obligated to have jails, cities aren't.
Cities traditionally kept their own jails because counties didn't do such a good job and because the city lockups were a convenience to a city's officers and residents. But other factors -- most notably more frequent and stricter jail inspections as well as rising operational costs -- have caused a lot of cities, especially smaller ones, to close city jails or restrict their use.
The same jail standards pushed counties to improve county jails, put more effort into staffing them and rebuild county sheriffs' offices to recognize their growing responsibility in jail management.
For the record, Benton County's cities have been sending felony and misdemeanor detainees over to the Benton County jail for a while now, using what remains of city lockups to hold prisoners only briefly. The same can be expected in Washington County eventually. Small cities already rely on the county jail and Fayetteville may soon follow.
heres my point, the govt never pays out money for something they arent either MADE to do or do out of pure greed....it seems to me that if my hometown of small has a budget of this size then all of your hometowns have a budget around that....break out the calculators and figure what each county in america has on their budget for the millions of dollars spent on JUST the county jails.....some one isnt telling us the whole story, id love for them to break down the numbers of how it would affect the overall budget in America if we ACTUALLY rehabilitated inmates and had crime so low that they couldnt afford these multi-million dollar budgets.....i hope i just made sense cause i surely do in my own mind....it just makes me think that our inmates are an ESSENTIAL part of the govt's financial means....without them, they wouldnt need millions, BUT, i almost think they are too scared to put their money where their mouth is and actually fight crime....then what would they do to make money, cause ya just know that they arent fixing to pay for squat if there isnt something in it for them. the only reason we dont have to pay for the lil poles they use to pick up trash on the side of the road is cause the govt is getting the labor free...id just love to see them do something to stop crime from climbing to the heights that it does each year. somebody somewhere is making money off this multi-billion dollar a year biz of housing inmates....its not me so i figure i must be reporting for duty!!