Seven Baldwin Inmates Freed From County Lockup

RELEASE OF NONVIOLENT SUSPECTS AIMED AT EASING CROWDED CONDITIONS

BAY MINETTE -- Baldwin County prosecutors say they are making progress --
albeit slowly -- toward fulfilling a pledge to release nonviolent inmates
and relieve crowded conditions at the county jail.

District Attorney David Whetstone, Baldwin County commissioners and
Presiding Circuit Judge James Reid agreed earlier this month to work
together on an idea the top prosecutor has been pushing for more than a year.

The plan is to release those charged with minor crimes who are deemed to
pose little threat to the public but are jailed because they can't afford
to make bond.

Seven inmates have been allowed to leave the Baldwin County Corrections
Center in Bay Minette since Friday, and an eighth has been cleared for
release. As conditions of their release, the inmates agreed to comply with
a curfew and other restrictions and have promised to appear for their court
dates.

But Whetstone said the process is complex. He estimated that 50 people at
the jail could potentially be released. First, though, authorities must
determine that the individuals do not have serious criminal records, do not
have charges pending in other jurisdictions, are not likely flee and a host
of other factors.

Whetstone said it has been difficult verifying the data because in some
cases, the information provided by the corrections center is not up-to-date.

"We're not sure how accurate it is," he said.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Judy Newcomb, who heads the effort, said
all of the inmates who have been released had low bond amounts set and were
charged with crimes carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years or less. She
said prosecutors looked first at inmates with ties to the local community,
which decreases the chance they will skip town to avoid their court dates.

In addition to those let out this week, Whetstone also has pressed his
prosecutors to resolve cases more quickly. Newcomb estimated that the
office has offered plea bargains to between 15 and 20 suspects.

Eventually, Newcomb said, those offers would have been made anyway.

Whetstone, who is running for attorney general, said he realizes the
political risk in letting inmates out of jail. But, he said, the current
situation is wrong, both practically and morally.

"From my standpoint, this is ludicrous," he said of overcrowded conditions
at the jail. "No one who is running for office would do this."