In a two-part editorial this week, I wrote about the overcrowding problems facing the Sedgwick County Jail.
A team of consultants from Wichita State University recently told the County Commission that under present trends, jail space would have to double by 2020 — an expensive proposition.
But — echoing a previous consultant hired in 2004 — they argued that costly new jail construction can be avoided by implementing alternatives to incarceration for low-risk inmates, such as mental health and drug counseling, work centers, and traffic detention centers.
These “get smart on crime” ideas are well worth exploring further, although Sheriff Gary Steed likely is right that even with the alternatives, we need extra bed space now.
Still, as County Commission Chairman Dave Unruh told the editorial board, we can continue to lock up low-risk offenders — but are taxpayers willing to pay for it?
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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12 Comments
If we can put evacuees in Century II, then why can’t we house non-violent detainees in the new downtown arena. It should be finished in the right time frame.
Last time they were campaigning for a new jail, they were arresting everybody they could, including those with overdue library books, in order to show how overcrowded they were. This is just one more play for money and prestige by the sheriff and other officials.Maybe what’s needed is just some discretion in who they arrest. If we give them a bigger jail, they’ll just haul more citizens in to prove they need a bigger one yet.
Hehe, that’s funny, Justa–But seriously, half of the criminals in jail are there for using drugs.
If a cocaine-snorting alcoholic party-hearty can become President of the United States, we should be able to rehabilitate most of these folks so they can pay taxes instead of use them.
Keeping somebody in prison runs about 30,000 a year. Rehabilitation is not only right, it’s also smart.
“If a cocaine-snorting alcoholic party-hearty can become President of the United States, we should be able to rehabilitate most of these folks so they can pay taxes instead of use them.”Clinton did all that? Oh ya, I forgot…he never inhaled (wink, wink). Or are you refering to Ted? No…he drowned some blond (unless history has been rewritten), so never got the big one. Oh…you’re talking about Bush. Too many politicians to choose from, so little time.
Clinton had his problems for sure, but drug abuse wasn’t one of them. His step-father was alcoholic and he stayed away from it for that reason.
There are many tens of thousands of “criminals” in Bush’s home state doing hard time for less than he did.
It’s time to quit punishing and start preventing and remediating.
I worked in the old jail( the one build in the fifties)believe me it was totally inhumane. Build to hold 125 and I never saw the count below two hundred. Yes part of the problem is the arresting of some that do not need to be jailed. But on any given night the city and county would releave most people that were arrested.When the state got tough on DUI it took alot of the choice out of the hands of the court.
Again believe me when I say that people were not getting arrested to build up the population. There are just that many commiting crime that land them in jail. Having been on the other side of those handchuffs I can tell you that most get out of jail long before the paperwork is done to put them there.
There needs to be more lacity in when someone must go to jail. When I became a patrol sargent for a small town in Olka. I was glad that I knew just what it means for someone to be arrested. I still made more arrests then my fellow officers. But if there was a way to just issue a court date and send them on their way I did.
Crime go with the economy, with a lack on jobs and wages going down. People that normally would not commit crimes do. It is not an excuse, but is human nature.
Maybe wer’e getting there. How about we build the jail under and around the arena, then use the inmates as the arena staff. They can clean and maintain the arena, man the snack bars and hawk the beer and peanuts to the crowds.
Not a bad idea Noel. There is a lot of spare area downtown already. Those old warehouses could be fitted with cubicles with cots and the bare necessities of life. The low risk ones could have free run of several square blocks downtown with a Martha Stewart style ankle bracelet and they must check in soon after their work detail is over. Much cheaper than $30K per year and not nearly as degrading but still unpleasant.
Maintaining the Arena would be a bad idea. It would lead to harsher sentences for plumbers, electricians and other in demand skills.
Have you used the services of any of those demand skills? These guys are criminals. lol
Hey, they could be used as pickpockets and thugs to boost revenues.
If the arena is anything like the rest of the stuff the developers and the council have pushed on the tax payers, they will need the extra revenue.