The Sedgwick County Commission is rightly concerned about the high level of jail use and growing costs. And it may be correct that the way to get cities to be more mindful about whom they send to jail and for how long is to charge them. But it’s unfortunate that it has come to that. The $2.09 per hour fee to house inmates on municipal charges that the commission approved Wednesday will likely result in a lawsuit and a lot of resentment.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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28 Comments
Maybe we should all be a bit more mindful of who we send to jail and for how long. We’ve used jail time as a one-size-fits-all solution, and blame the inmate when it doesn’t work. Crime is not a single problem for which a single solution would be appropriate; it’s a number of problems for which there should be an assortment of relevant responses, and jail time being the most expensive should be the last resort instead of the first.Oh, and when we use that last resort, proper medical treatment and food must be provided. No more Prisoner Kibble!
Perhaps some of the Municipal Court Judges will see the light and stop sentencing those convicted of minor crimes to longer sentences than those imposed by the County in many cases.
“Perhaps some of the Municipal Court Judges will see the light and stop sentencing those convicted of minor crimes to longer sentences than those imposed by the County in many cases.”
Are you saying that we should just overlook “minor” crimes? Most of these crmes do not end up in jail time until the person has done them more than once or twice. And it has proven in places that ignore “minor” crimes- whatever that means- usually end up with a lot more “major” crimes. One of the ways that places like New York and Chicago were cleaned up was by cracking down on small crimes and they found that the big crimes fell a whole lot too. I would say that it would be better to let the people out that are there for marijuana, gambling and prostitution- any victimless kind of crimes.
…. better yet, legalize, license and tax those now “victim less” crimes — sounds like win - win, jail less crowded, more jobs, and revenue to run the jails —
Re read the post. Did I say “ignore”? I don’t think so.
So this means Sedgwick County is going to start paying the City its share of the property taxes on that downtown real estate the jail occupies, right?
Prime land, close to downtown and the river…should be worth a pretty penny.
Don’t forget to cut USD259 in on their part of the mill levy, too.
Um, let’s see. 75% of the people in Sedgwick County live in Wichita, and 75% of the revenue for the county comes from taxes levied on and paid by Wichita residents. But we have to pay EXTRA to use the jail we already mostly pay for? Same with the little cities and towns too. Their citizens already pay their share for the jail, but the county wants MORE MORE MORE.
Sedgwick County needs some new management.
Maybe the city wont hold someone for sixty days for stealing a hotdog.
I can see it in the future, city police issuing out tickets to the county sheriffs for speeding, failure to use lights and making illegal U-turns.
I guess they better start building more jails in the counties they want to house more inmates in then. Then I wanna hear the anti tax people in that county howl.
ok i may have misread that…i’m not sure. I’m pretty exhausted.
The Cities use the Sedgwick County Jail to enforce their collection of fines. Those fines go into the City coffers; a nice profit for the Cities. Perhaps instead if using the mechanism described above to fund the jail they should simply direct the fine revenues there.
The various municipalities avail themselves of the county jail for many reasons; the ultimate result is that by so doing, these cities don’t need to have a city confinement facility. My suggestion to cities who don’t want to pay the fees is to construct, operate and maintain their own facilities for those being held pre-trial, those being held in contempt for failure to pay a fine, etc., with the county facility reserved for those serving a sentence after conviction. Wanna bet that happens?
Oops, that was incomplete.
The county facility should also be used for pretrial confinement of those facing trial in District Court as well.
Even without doing that they should build a couple of “Mayberry RFD” cells in the police departments for people who just need to “sleep it off”.
Can someone remind me again what our current taxes are being spent on here in Sedgwick County?
They want an arena so they raise our sales tax.
They are already laying the groundwork for keeping this 1% tax after the approved time expires.
And now they want to charge a daily rent to house criminals. At $50 a day perhaps the meals will improve.
Everytime I turn around that bastard Tim Norris has his hand in my damn pocket!
TomI realize that you share the same first name with the “hot dog theif” but, might I remind you:
Tom W. ran over a kid on a tricycle and drug that kid for over a block, under his car, not even knowing he had hit her.
Tom W. had been shoplifting, only days prior to killing a kid. Tom W. was “let off the hook” for that crime. (That was my fault.)
Tom W. had a bench warrant for “failure to appear” — the true reason for his most recent confinement.—-We use parole and probation as a way to REDUCE prison and jail over-crowding.However, when parole or probation violations happen, we MUST be able to put habitual offenders BACK behind bars, based on their HISTORY of abuse.The public grows tired of early release, parole and probation if we don’t treat repeat offenders harshly.
Even without doing that they should build a couple of “Mayberry RFD” cells in the police departments for people who just need to “sleep it off”. Posted by: Ben | May 03, 2007 at 12:02 PM
I wonder if they will leave the keys near the door like they did for Otis.
And the Hot Dog Man was found not guilty.
Let’s not forget that.
WSThe jury was not told of his history, prior to that finding.
Also, the “hot dog man” was guilty when Safeway caught him shoplifting, years ago.
And, he was guilty of “failure to appear” which generated a bench warrant.
Your sympathy is misplaced.
Tom W would NEVER win a lawsuit for false imprisonment, the man is a menace.
“The jury was not told of his history, prior to that finding.”
That is the law - he is to be tried for one crime and one crime only - not his “reputation.”
And don’t accuse me of sympathizing with him - that’s not true - I am just pointing out the facts.
“Even without doing that they should build a couple of “Mayberry RFD” cells in the police departments for people who just need to “sleep it off”.”
That is what they do down here in the south. Most cities have a lockup- even the City of Atlanta has its own jail and does not house inmates in the Fulton County Jail on city charges. The Fulton County Jail is generally known as “the felony jail” while the Atlanta jail is “the misdomeanor jail”. Many cities in Sedgwick like Mulvane and Derby probably should run lock ups for minor offenders- maybe a “pea farm” type of facility like Wichita used to have.
“Tom W. ran over a kid on a tricycle and drug that kid for over a block, under his car, not even knowing he had hit her.”
Was he drunk? If he was, he should have never got time for stealing hot dogs because he never should have been out to steal in the first place. He should have been doing a minimum of 35 years without parole.
KevThank YOU!Nice to agree on something!My point exactly!
If we use parole and probation to let people out early, in order to save money, then we MUST slap them behind bars if they mess up again!In the case of “hot dog theif” Tom W.YES he was drunk, at that time in his life, he was NEVER sober.
Again, I agree, he should not have been given the opportunity to steal again, from anyone othert than his prison bunk mate!
Have you ever thought about who is already paying for the jail, all of the cities in question are already being taxed for the building and upkeep of the jail and the keeping of the prisoners. Now the cities are going to be taxed a second time for the jail
I bet it won’t be long before the “hot dog man” is arrested again, and I’m sure it won’t be his fault yet again.
Marty, on your point about the cities being “double taxed” for the jail, I submit the following thought. The residents of the counties are paying taxes, some of which go to operation of the jail. The jail should be used, IMHO, to house those awaiting trial in District Court (generally felonies, but also including DUI arrests, e.g., made in the county) who haven’t/can’t post bond, those awaiting trial in Federal Court who haven’t/can’t post bond, and those serving their sentences after convictions where confinement in the county jail is required by statute. This benefits, in theory, all county residents.
Why should the residents of a particular municipality then complain about paying a fee for housing those arrested within the cities for misdemeanor violations of city ordinances and convicted thereof when the logical solution would be to construct and operate a city facility for these purposes? I suspect, but do not know, that the costs of the fees will be less than the costs of construction and operation of a municipal “jail”. Should the other residents of the counties pick up the tab for these prisoners, or should the individual cities do so?
I would speculate that payment of the fees might inhibit the courts in these municipalities from utilizing the county jail as opposed to looking at other ways to “punish” their offenders, which, as I understand it, is at least more than a minimal part of the overall county jail overcrowding issue.
Sedgwick County is one of a handful of counties in the state that does not already charge some type of fee to municipalities when the confine someone in the county jail. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Especially with all the other “crap”, I mean projects, the county has it’s hands in. I guess I don’t understand why the commission feels it needs to have so many multi-million dollar projects going on at once?.?