INMATES AGAIN OVERFLOW COUNTY JAIL

Blake Taylor, the state's chief jail inspector, said the growing inmate
population at the Charleston County jail could give him a feeling of deja
vu. Less than a decade ago, Taylor recalled that a war of words erupted
between state prison officials and Charleston County Council over cramped
conditions at the county's old jail. Back then, the jail was a puny, dingy
building designed for 128 inmates but holding nearly four times that
number. That battle ended happily in November 1993 when the county opened
an $18.2 million jail addition to accommodate 615 inmates. But the
Charleston County Detention Center on Leeds Avenue is back where it was
nearly eight years ago, said Taylor, director of inspections for the S.C.
Department of Corrections. On most days, the jail population tops 1,300
inmates at a complex designed for slightly more than 800 people.

The tightest spot is in the facility's core - the high-security main jail.
Built for 686 adults, it holds an average of 1,100. Some inmates sleep on
tables and floors, and sometimes two and three people are locked in cells
built for one. The jail, which is inspected twice annually, is
significantly overcrowded, Taylor said, and state prison officials are
nearing the point that they might again insist the county fix the problem.
"But I am optimistic that won't happen," he said. "We have a good
relationship with the county." If SCDC demands that the county ease
overcrowding, "we would certainly listen to what they have to say and take
it under advisement," County Administrator Roland Windham said. Of the 45
county jails in South Carolina, Charleston's overcrowded condition is among
the worst, Taylor said. (Orangeburg and Calhoun counties have a combined
jail.) "Once you are significantly overcrowded, it starts to impact on
other standards and it creates the potential for conflict," Taylor said.
Overcrowding is a daily worry for Chief Deputy Keith Novak of the
Charleston County Sheriff's Office. He's concerned that jail safety will
suffer if he does not get additional detention officers. "Somebody is going
to get seriously hurt. I can't control how many people are put in jail,"
Novak said. "I'd like to control the number of people guarding them, but we
are critically low right now." The sheriff's office had asked county
government for 64 additional officers to join the 279 officers who patrol
the four-story jail, its two adjoining wings, a juvenile center and a work
camp. County Council Chairman Barrett Lawrimore said the request for more
officers was not brought before council during discussion on the current
budget.

He referred questions to Windham. Jail safety is a concern when the jail is
overcrowded, Windham said. To control spending countywide, council has
tried to keep the county work force at the same level as the previous
fiscal year, he said. To ease overcrowding among juvenile defendants
awaiting trial, the county plans to build a 77-bed juvenile unit by the
spring of 2003, Windham said. But the county does not have the money to
build a $40 million jail addition, which is on the capital projects list.
Because the jail is understaffed, many officers routinely work overtime,
Novak said. Overtime pay is costing about $1.2 million annually, he said.
State jail inspectors say the jail must have one officer for every 56
inmates. Windham calls that a "perfect-world" standard, adding that many
jails in South Carolina are overcrowded and can't meet that standard.
Recently, instead of three officers in housing unit 1-D, Officer B.D. Baker
was one of two officers guarding 124 women. With one officer shy of the
requirement, Baker also had worked 36 hours of overtime. "Physically,
(overtime) takes a toll, but I am young and it does not bother me," the
29-year-old Baker said. "We have to do what we can to keep the place
secure." Housing unit 1-D is designed for 112 women, which means inmates
sometimes share a 15-foot by 10-foot cell built for one. Federal prisoner
Rosalind Hamilton of Bluffton has, at times, shared her cell with two women.

Hamilton was one of about 100 federal prisoners in the jail recently.

The federal government pays the county a fee to house its defendants
waiting for trial or sentencing. "As long as they abide by the rules and
take a shower, I don't mind the third person in the room," said Hamilton,
who has been in the county jail for 20 months.

Hamilton is expected to be sentenced next month for conspiracy to
distribute drugs. Of the 1,100 people in the main county jail, about 900 on
average are awaiting trial in General Sessions Court, Novak said. A
defendant waits an average of about one year before trial, he said. Of the
inmates awaiting General Sessions trial, 11 have been in jail since 1999,
jail officials said. Instead of expanding the jail, Windham said, "maybe we
need to speed up the system to get (defendants) through to keep the
population down. We need to look at alternatives means rather than building
new facilities." First-term Solicitor Ralph Hoisington, who ran on a
platform last year to shorten the time to trial, said the jail has not
grown with the size of the criminal population. Defendants should not have
to wait an inordinate length of time before their day in court, he said.
The solicitor's office is considering adopting York County's "fast-track"
system which brings to trial in less than a year property and non-violent
crimes, he said. About 70 percent of the defendants awaiting trial in
General Sessions Court are represented by one of 14 public defenders, said
Ashley Pennington, executive director of the Charleston County Public
Defender's office.

The delay in getting defendants in jail to trial, he said, is due to the
understaffed court system. Jails are full not just here but nationwide
because tougher laws, aggressive policing and victims demand longer sentences.

But with fewer judges, public defenders and investigators, it takes longer
to bring cases to trial, he said. "We use jail to warehouse people instead
of getting to the root of their problems," Pennington said. Many people in
jail need help with drug addiction and psychiatric problems, but locking
them up is a cheaper, less complicated option, he said. Pennington said
expectations of the system run high when someone's relative is in trouble
and "then people are stunned by how little resources are available to
represent them." Of all the people waiting for trial, only 15 percent are
in jail, Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon said. Rarely, he said, is
someone in jail who does not mentally understand right from wrong or who
needs treatment for drug abuse. The sheriff said, "People who are here are
here as a result of the choices they make."