REVOLVING JAIL DOORS

Each week in Raleigh, a familiar cast of petty criminals, homeless
alcoholics, street addicts and other small-time offenders pass through the
doors of the Wake County jail. Many have been arrested repeatedly for such
minor offenses as public drunkenness and trespassing.

They are almost immediately set free, even though few can raise even the
lowest of bonds, says Assistant District At-torney Frank Jackson. His
reasoning is sound: these are not the kind of people who belong in jail.
They do not pose such a threat to the public that they justify the $58 a
day it costs to keep them locked up.

The DA's so-called "Free the People" program is a humane realization of the
limited good that a holding facility such as the Wake jail can accomplish.
What is missing is a coordinated effort to break this cycle of despair that
is tying up court and jail resources and doing so little for those caught
in its downward spiral.

The jail staff does not provide information about homeless shelters, for
instance, in spite of the fact that during a recent and typical week, all
nine of the men freed were homeless. Nor are those freed offered addiction
treatment or counseling help from Wake County Human Services.

The result is an expensive exercise in jailhouse futility. While Sheriff
John Baker is technically correct that drug treatment and counseling is not
the job of jailers, being able to steer these unfortunates to community
resources would allow his jail staff to concentrate their efforts on the
more dangerous inmates lodged there. And to be sure, the responsibility for
getting that job done isn't Baker's alone; county commissioners are the
ones who should coordinate any such effort.

Rather than spinning their wheels locking up and freeing the same people
over and over again -- one frequent visitor has 88 arrests for public
drunkenness -- it makes sense that a coordinated effort to marry resources
with those who need them would be cheaper and less frustrating than the
revolving jail doors we have now.