EXPANDING JAIL

I was disappointed at the superficial way The Post and Courier came to a
conclusion in your Nov. 27 editorial, "Right decision on jail expansion."

Your approval of the Charleston County Council's plan to triple our current
jail's capacity was based only on the number of inmates now imprisoned in a
limited space and the expanded jail's projected $76 million cost. "The
numbers tell the story," you said, and then quoted Sheriff Cannon
exclusively on whether alternatives to incarceration might be possible.

Well, the numbers do not tell the whole story. Don't we readers have a
right to expect some insight from your editors on critical community
matters like this?

You might also have quoted Councilman Leon Stavrinakis, who refused to vote
for the expansion, saying, "I can t believe that in all this time we
haven't been able to find a way to reduce the jail population by even 100
inmates. We haven't tried everything possible. We have only looked to
government for a solution, not the private sector."

You might also have informed us about the main infraction that jail inmates
have committed: illegal drug offenses. You might have analyzed the laws
leading to those arrests and asked if the threat of incarceration at the
jail now is stopping drug use, and, if not, why spend taxpayer funds to
expand a failed policy.

And here's a suggestion from the "private sector":

The same day that the County Council decided to triple the size of our
current jail, I spent an hour observing a session of our local federal
court. It was not a drug court.

The judge was considering arraignments. I saw four cases adjudicated.

Two of them involved the very effective drug treatment program at the
county jail.

In one case, a visibly pregnant inmate had completed the program and the
judge released her to a follow-up, outpatient drug program near her home,
freeing a space at the jail.

In a second case, an inmate asked to be put into drug treatment at the
jail, and the judge agreed.

Studies have shown that good substance abuse programs, inside or outside of
jail, stop crime. It is a long-term solution to save taxpayers money and
keep families together.

Building and funding a substance-abuse treatment center at the jail now,
not in five years when the expansion is ready, is a capital improvement the
County Council should insist on and so should The Post and Courier
editorial writers.

Had this been done some years ago, perhaps the jail would not be
overcrowded today.

Sharon Fratepietro