BISBEE — Rather than spend many millions of dollars on an expansion of the county jail, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors decided to look into other options including release programs for those sentenced to or awaiting trial on misdemeanors.
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There is an added problem that Leon discussed — juveniles incarcerated as adults. By law, the county has to keep juveniles away from the adult prison population. Right now, that is difficult.
Half of the adult prisoners at the jail are serving time up to six months for misdemeanors. The other half are awaiting a trial date for misdemeanor crimes such as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, committing domestic violence or assault, said Chief Deputy Rod Rothrock. People convicted of felony crimes do not stay at the jail, but are sent on to prison.
“Some of these people are not a threat to the public. They fail to pay fines or keep up with the sentencing or probation agreement and the judge sends them to jail,” Leon said.
Supervisors emphasized the depressing financial outlook facing the county that may extend into next year. Spending precious taxpayer dollars on quarters for criminals may not be in the best interest in the county at the present time, though -Searle acknowledged the need to expand.
As floor space is added, there are additional continuing costs the county wold have to bear, as well, Call said. Kitchen and laundry facilities would be in need of expansion to serve a larger prisoner population. Add in more staff positions to handle the extra prisoners and the jail’s budget could balloon at a time when saving dollars is the goal.
Leon confirmed that the additional space would require another 22 employees.
English suggested looking into the way the kitchen is designed to efficiently use space.
In Deming, N.M., the jail was expanded with the use of shipping containers after a government contract to house federal prisoners was secured. Searle visited the jail and said, “I was impressed. You couldn’t tell from the inside that it was a shipping container.”
Rothrock replied that he had already planned a trip to Deming to tour the facility.
Call threw out the suggestion of constructing a tent city like Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio did.
Rothrock said policing a tent city would present safety issues for the prisoners and the staff. There is some cost involved with the setup with the concrete pads under and steel frames around the tents.
Once Rothrock and Leon said the housing for misdemeanors need not be as secure as a jail, Searle suggested considering placing misdemeanor prisoners in a beefed up building like the Arizona Department of Corrections did in Douglas for those convicted of DUIs. An old hotel was purchased and it was reopened as a minimum security prison. Such a down-scale facility would work for such individuals as well as those on work-release programs.
Two options involve the court system – getting the judges to impose a work-
release program on misdemeanor cases or set up a pretrial release program, said Leon. Pretrial release allows those accused of misdemeanor crimes who pose a low risk to violate release conditions to remain free until their trials.
“The frustrating thing is you have someone break in your home, gets caught, arrested and then there’s no jail time. The residents say ‘Wait a minute, what did we do this for?’ They don’t see the whole picture. That’s the flip side of this issue,” Searle said.
When Mike Ortega, county administrator, was asked to weigh in on the subject, he proposed looking at the needs, including the jail expansion, and considering all the solutions. If the supervisors determine a minimum-security facility is required, it could be built at the current jail site.
“If a pretrial release program is implemented, we could be OK for 10 years,” he said. “Now it becomes a discussion with the court system to determine the resources (they) need to implement something like this.”
The supervisors will discuss the matter in a public forum with the county court system within the next 30 to 45 days.
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