PLEA BARGAINS HELP FOR DALLAS JAIL

DALLAS (AP) - Dallas County trimmed nearly 300 low-level offenders from
the population of its crowded and understaffed jail last week as part of an
effort to bring the jail within state regulations, officials said.

Officials with the nation's seventh-largest jail system are working to
reduce the jail population by about 1,000 inmates, which they say would
make the jail compliant with the state's minimum staffing requirement of
one guard per 48 inmates.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards has warned the county that it must
fix the jail staffing problems or face possible closure.

The District Attorney's Office said its efforts include offering plea
bargains to people being held for state jail felonies, the lowest level of
felony crimes, such as prostitution, burglary and drug possession.

In many cases, defendants were allowed to plead guilty to their charges and
receive punishment equal to the time they'd already spent in jail,
prosecutors said.

"If it's a bad deal, we don't do it. This is not a fire sale," said Terri
Moore, first assistant district attorney. "If they've been there an
adequate amount of time to compensate for their crime, then that's fine."

Last week's reduction included a drop of 173 inmates from Thursday to
Friday. As of Friday, the jail population stood at 6,652. Officials said
they want to get the population down to about 6,000 in the next three weeks.

Prosecutors are also using other methods to reduce inmates.