danielle
12-10-2002, 10:07 AM
Inmate dumping stepped up by Houston County
By PHILLIP RAWLS
The Associated Press
12/10/02 11:19 AM
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- The Houston County Sheriff's Department relieved crowding in its jail by dropping off 59 inmates at state prisons Tuesday, a strategy increasingly used by sheriffs frustrated by backlogs of state inmates in their county jails.
"The state has its own overcrowding problem, but you can't pass those problems on to somebody else," said Bill Land, operations commander for the sheriff's department.
On Monday, Calhoun County Circuit Judge Joel Laird ordered Sheriff Larry Amerson to take state prisoners from his jail in Anniston and deliver them to the state prison system in Montgomery. Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said 73 men and 1 woman were transported to state prisons about 5 p.m.
Last week, the Etowah County's sheriff dropped off 71 male inmates at Kilby Correctional Facility near Montgomery.
Corbett said the trend couldn't continue or "it's going to cause a meltdown."
The Department of Corrections has asked Montgomery Circuit Judge William Shashy to issue an order stopping counties from dumping inmates on the prison system, but he has not ruled.
On Friday, Shashy imposed millions in new fines on the Department of Corrections for not abiding by its 1998 agreement to remove inmates from county jails within 30 days after they are sentenced to state prison. About 1,600 inmates are in county jails in violation of the agreement.
The Department of Corrections has not yet decided whether to appeal.
The department finds itself in a vise. Its prisons are filled to capacity, but so are many county jails. Some sheriffs are transporting inmates to Montgomery for processing without waiting for prison officials to tell them space is available.
In addition to the unscheduled inmates, state prisons took in about 40 regularly scheduled prisoners Tuesday, most of them from Jefferson County, Corbett said.
In the Calhoun County case, the judge ordered the inmates transferred after state corrections officials failed to show up for a hearing. Corbett said no one was there because corrections officials thought the hearing was going to be postponed until Corrections Commissioner Mike Haley could attend. Haley was in New Orleans on Monday, visiting his ailing father, Corbett said.
Calhoun County Sheriff Larry Amerson said he needed to get rid of some high-risk inmates who "are a real and very present danger to our community."
In Houston County, Land said 57 men and two women were transported to prisons in the Montgomery area for processing. He said the state prison system had not taken any inmates from Dothan in several months, and the county's jail -- built in 2001 for 397 inmates -- was running out of space.
He said the county spends about $30 a day to house a state inmate, but only gets $1.25 from the state.
By PHILLIP RAWLS
The Associated Press
12/10/02 11:19 AM
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- The Houston County Sheriff's Department relieved crowding in its jail by dropping off 59 inmates at state prisons Tuesday, a strategy increasingly used by sheriffs frustrated by backlogs of state inmates in their county jails.
"The state has its own overcrowding problem, but you can't pass those problems on to somebody else," said Bill Land, operations commander for the sheriff's department.
On Monday, Calhoun County Circuit Judge Joel Laird ordered Sheriff Larry Amerson to take state prisoners from his jail in Anniston and deliver them to the state prison system in Montgomery. Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett said 73 men and 1 woman were transported to state prisons about 5 p.m.
Last week, the Etowah County's sheriff dropped off 71 male inmates at Kilby Correctional Facility near Montgomery.
Corbett said the trend couldn't continue or "it's going to cause a meltdown."
The Department of Corrections has asked Montgomery Circuit Judge William Shashy to issue an order stopping counties from dumping inmates on the prison system, but he has not ruled.
On Friday, Shashy imposed millions in new fines on the Department of Corrections for not abiding by its 1998 agreement to remove inmates from county jails within 30 days after they are sentenced to state prison. About 1,600 inmates are in county jails in violation of the agreement.
The Department of Corrections has not yet decided whether to appeal.
The department finds itself in a vise. Its prisons are filled to capacity, but so are many county jails. Some sheriffs are transporting inmates to Montgomery for processing without waiting for prison officials to tell them space is available.
In addition to the unscheduled inmates, state prisons took in about 40 regularly scheduled prisoners Tuesday, most of them from Jefferson County, Corbett said.
In the Calhoun County case, the judge ordered the inmates transferred after state corrections officials failed to show up for a hearing. Corbett said no one was there because corrections officials thought the hearing was going to be postponed until Corrections Commissioner Mike Haley could attend. Haley was in New Orleans on Monday, visiting his ailing father, Corbett said.
Calhoun County Sheriff Larry Amerson said he needed to get rid of some high-risk inmates who "are a real and very present danger to our community."
In Houston County, Land said 57 men and two women were transported to prisons in the Montgomery area for processing. He said the state prison system had not taken any inmates from Dothan in several months, and the county's jail -- built in 2001 for 397 inmates -- was running out of space.
He said the county spends about $30 a day to house a state inmate, but only gets $1.25 from the state.