JAIL OVERCROWDING PROBLEM HARD TO SOLVE

Phillip Charles Ray has been in Lenoir County Jail for more than a year
after being picked up on an assault with a deadly weapon charge. He's still
waiting for a judge to hear his case.

Ray's case is one of hundreds of examples why area jails are overflowing
and taxpayers are regularly demanded to build more jails and state prisons.

In June 2005, the most recent statistics available, one in every 136 U.S.
residents was in prison or jail.

Locally, Lenoir County is looking at a $7.6 million jail expansion project.
Greene County has finalized plans to build a new $12 million jail and
courtroom.

Jails consistently run above capacity. Lenoir County has 121 beds, but has
an average inmate population of 130. Greene County's 22-bed facility
averages about 25 inmates and Wayne County averages 249 inmates at its
200-bed facility.

The North Carolina Department of Correction has opened five new 1,000-bed
prisons since 2003, including the Maury Correctional Institution in Greene
County, which cost $77 million to build.

Overcrowding is an issue nationwide. According to the Bureau of Justice,
the nation's jail population grew 2.6 percent over a 12-month period, to
nearly 2.2 million inmates as of June 30, 2005, the most recent data available.

During that period, three states - Florida (up 2,812 inmates), Texas (up
2,228 inmates, and North Carolina (up 1,482 inmates) - accounted for more
than 40 percent of the growth.

In 2005, the crime rate for North Carolina dropped by 0.5 percent compared
to 2004, but violent crimes rose 3.7 percent. Murders increased 9.7
percent, according to reports from law enforcement agencies across the state.

Funnel effect

It's not the number of crimes being committed that's causing the
overcrowding; it's the amount of time for cases to go through the court system.

One inmate in Wayne County's jail has been awaiting trial for 1,325 days,
or about 3 1/2 years.

Statewide, the time for a murder case to be disposed of in 2005 was 443
days. Locally, Lenoir County took 481 days, Greene County took 454 days and
it took 413 days in Wayne County.

Typically, rape, drug and assault cases take about a year to be cleared.

The problem can be described as a funnel effect. Hundreds of police
officers are arresting people and putting them in jail, but all of them
have to squeeze through one Superior Court room.

"We can only handle so many cases," said Branny Vickory, district attorney
for Lenoir, Greene and Wayne counties. "About 95 to 98 percent of all our
cases are pled out."

There are 13 assistant district attorneys who serve Lenoir, Wayne and
Greene counties for superior, district and domestic cases.

The District Attorney's office works with the judges to give inmates their
day in court, even if it's just a first appearance.

"There are a lot of people just taking up space," Vickory said.

If people are released from jail on bond, it may take longer for them to
get their case heard as well.

"We are always pushing the jail first," Vickory said.

Former North Lenoir High School basketball coach and teacher Charlie
Stevens was free on bond but waited two years for a four-day trial. He was
found guilty Thursday of indecent liberties with a minor and sexual battery
and was sentenced to 60 days in a state facility and probation.

Superior Court Judge Paul Jones said many of the inmates are repeat offenders.

"We want to keep those in jail who are flight risks and risks to the
community," he said.

Past felons are given probation as a second chance, but most of them are
not interested.

"They just want to see what will play out in court," Jones said.

Another problem playing a role in jail overcrowding is getting evidence
back from the State Bureau of Investigation.

"It takes 12 to 14 months for us to receive a piece of paper that says what
was found in the person's pocket is actually crack," Vickory said.

According to the Office of Research and Planning for the North Carolina
Department of Correction, drug charges were the most frequent type of crime
committed by new entries to probation in 2005.

In July, Attorney General Roy Cooper received funding from the General
Assembly for additional SBI agents, drug chemistry experts, a DNA expert
and a computer forensic analyst.

"There are a lot of hopes for things to pick up," Vickory said.

Beyond lock-up

Meanwhile, county sheriffs wrestle with the consequences of overcrowding
such as inmates fighting and medical bills.

"Some inmates need additional medical attention or food," said Lenoir
County Sheriff W.E. "Billy" Smith. "There's more to a jail than just
locking the key."

Smith said most of the repeat offenders are drug users abusing their body
and that comes with a hefty medical bill.

"We are doing everything we can to get the inmates bonded out or to court
early," he said.

Greene County has to pay extra expenses to house inmates at other county
jails. Sheriff Lemmie Smith said female inmates are housed in Edgecombe
County for $50 a day and juveniles are housed in Pitt County.

"The current jail, which was built in 1935, is unsafe and outdated," he said.

Smith is counting the days when construction starts on his new jail, which
should be operational by late spring in 2008.

"This is something we needed a long time ago," he said.

Greene County has already secured a $10 million loan from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture for the jail project and applied for another USDA
loan for $1.9 million.

The Lenoir County jail expansion will soon resurface after being tabled to
deal with the school bond which carried a 5-cent tax rate increase.

John Harkins, chief inspector of jails and detentions for the Department of
Health and Human Services division of facility services, said of the 118
county jails in North Carolina, there is much overcrowding.

"It is very county specific," he said. "Some (counties) are aggressive
about handling problems and some are not."

Harkins said one jail he inspected had room for four females, which meant
two inmates would share one cell plus a dayroom. The day he visited, there
were 17 women in one area.

Another jail had one person answering 911 calls and sheriff office calls
and worked as the jailer. One jail even left the inmates alone to go pick
up the food.

"I run into all kinds of stuff," he said.

Another pressure point for county jails is waiting for the state to pick up
inmates sentenced to the Department of Correction.

Currently, there is no backlog for inmates waiting to enter the 79 state
facilities, but state officials are expecting one late this year.

Boyd Bennett, for the Department of Correction Division of Prisons, said
800 to 1,000 inmates enter the state prison population each year.

"We'll have 44,000 inmates statewide by 2014," he said.

Bennett said inmates are housed two per cell in more than half of all the
state facilities.

"Bottom line is our facilities are full," he said.

The state has opened four prisons in the past three years. Scotland
Correctional Institution in Laurinburg opened in September 2003, Lanesboro
Correctional Institution in Polkton opened in January 2004 and the
Alexander Correctional Institution opened in March 2004. Along with Maury
Correctional Institution that opened in April, Bertie Correctional
Institution in Windsor will start receiving inmates this week.

A prison currently under construction in Columbus County in Tabor City is
expected to be ready by 2008.

"After that one we don't have any more prisons authorized to be built,"
Bennett said.

There has been a steady increase in the proportion of inmates in the prison
population convicted of crimes under the Structured Sentencing Act, which
eliminates parole as an option for many crimes committed after Oct. 1,
1994, according to the Office of Research and Planning for the Department
of Correction.

"This is driving a lot of the overcrowding," Bennett said.

The prison population is growing as exits from prison slow due to the
longer prison sentences for serious and chronic offenders.

"Everyone needs more space," Vickory said.