08.19.07

Build a Bigger Jail or Let People Out?

Posted in prisons, civil liberties, politics at 5:24 pm by misstyrios

The Worcester County House of Correction in Massachusetts is facing a crisis - it is designed to hold 822 inmates, but the current population is more than 1500, “who are packed two to a single cell, and in the infirmary and the gymnasium.” One of those inmates, with the help of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, filed a civil rights lawsuit against the jail because of the overcrowding. And US District Court Judge Rya Zobel issued a decree that no more than 1251 individuals be held there at any time. The sheriff sued to vacate the decree, but lost. Then he tried to get more money from the state to expand the jail, but didn’t. So now (in what honestly seems like a move to spark community outcry), he has announced that he will release two inmates for every one that comes in, and will place a number of pre-trial individuals on GPS monitoring systems in lieu of holding them.

“The purpose of the consent decree is to address overcrowding at the Worcester County House of Correction, which is beyond critical,” said Peter J. Costanza, a staff lawyer for the prisoners’ rights group who has worked on the consent decree with the sheriff’s chief legal adviser, Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey R. Turco. “It’s going to be several years before they can get more space at Worcester. In the meantime, something has to be done.”

The district attorney said he is deeply concerned about the release of pretrial detainees and the “one-in, two-out” provision, though he sees no problem in off-loading inmates to other county jails.

Obviously, I am all for letting people out of jail, particularly because there are so damn many of them that are held for ridiculous reasons (like a 19-year-old held for 30 days on a charge of driving after a suspended license - which carries a max 10 days - because he couldn’t post $250 bail). And I am theoretically against the “build more jails” line of thought because it is generally espoused as part of the “lock ‘em all up” cry. But even with a cap of 1251, that’s 400+ above the jail’s capacity. So if building an expansion means that anyone held there would be able to sleep a little better, I am in favor of that too.

I think there just needs to be a fundamental re-evaluation that includes the sheriff, the inmates, and the judges who are setting bail and deciding sentences. It needs to go beyond the DA issuing the trite required press statement and the public just hearing “criminals on the streets!”

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