GET OUT OF JAIL FREE?

Solution To Overcrowding Doesn't Lie In Bigger Jails

Orange could be the new it-color in Durham if the county's inmate
population keeps growing at the present rate, according to a jail
assessment submitted to the Durham County Board of Commissioners in June.

The review of more than 70,000 jail admissions since 1999 reported
that by 2030, if current procedures stay the same, Durham's jail
population could double. The increase would require the already
overcrowded jail system to provide 664 additional beds at a price of
nearly $60 million.

While county officials are struggling with how to guarantee the
safety of its citizens without picking their pockets, expanding the
size of Durham jails is a costly and unnecessary solution to the problem.

Instead, officials should examine ways to reduce the average length
of jail stays for inmates who committed certain nonviolent
misdemeanors and fund rehabilitative programs aimed at preventing
ex-offenders from returning to jail.

The average length of jail stays in Durham is particularly high. Most
of the long stays are for people charged with nonviolent misdemeanors
who cannot post bond.

With this practice, a sex offender could have a better chance of
being released into the community than someone accused of driving
with a revoked license simply because he could afford to post bond
whereas the person charged with a lesser crime could not.

One possible solution to prolonged jail stays for economically
disadvantaged individuals would be to set bond prices according to
need for individuals who do not pose a threat to the community.

For this to occur without endangering citizens, judges and law
officials must have as much information as possible about criminals'
histories, so individuals with a violent criminal history would not
be released into the community while awaiting trial for a nonviolent
or misdemeanor offense.

Aside from reducing the length of jail stays, county officials should
invest in programs that assist former criminals with the challenges
of reintegrating into society.

A study conducted by RTI International in the Research Triangle found
that substance abuse treatment programs for drug offenders instead of
prison terms could save the U.S. criminal justice system millions of dollars.

The study, which compared 130 drug offenders serving time in prison
in 1995-96 with 150 participants enrolled in the Drug Treatment
Alternative to Prison Program during the same time, determined that
not only was the alternative program far less costly, but it was also
more effective at keeping convicts from returning to jail.

Simply spending taxpayers' dollars to expand prisons is the wrong
solution to jail overcrowding. Reforming bond policies and instating
rehabilitative programs could ease the burden on Durham's jails
without costing its citizens.