COUNTY JAIL 'BUSTING AT SEAMS'

ADRIAN -- New sentence alternatives saved a total 860 days in jail for
Lenawee County offenders since Oct. 1, reported Lenawee County Community
Corrections coordinator Jeffrey LaBarr.

An update on statistics for the program's first year and suggestions for
new ways to reduce overcrowding at the Lenawee County Jail were discussed
Wednesday by the Lenawee County Community Corrections Advisory Board.

The jail population remains a problem despite the start of a weekend hard
labor program and a day reporting probation program that is taking some
inmates out of jail early.

April began with 234 inmates in the 170-bed jail with little relief until
this week, said Sheriff Larry Richardson.

"Last weekend we were busting at the seams," he said.

A new program of automatically releasing eligible inmates early from jail
to report daily for alcohol tests and other probation requirements is
working well, Richardson said.

"I like the program because they're not getting out scott-free," Richardson
said. "They wanted to get out no strings attached, now there's still some
control on them."

There were eight people in the day reporting program on Wednesday.

Releasing people to the day reporting program who are unable to post bond
while awaiting prosecution was suggested by Adrian attorney James Daly. He
operates the Lenawee Development Corp. residential center, where
probationers in the day reporting program check in each day for alcohol and
drug tests. Daly said there were 20 to 25 people in jail last weekend who
were unable to post bonds of less than $10,000.

Board chairman and district court Judge James E. Sheridan asked jail and
probation officials to meet to work out details for including unsentenced
inmates in the program.

Sheridan said the courts are also looking into a system of expediting
felony cases when plea agreements are reached during the preliminary
examination step in district court. Immediately transferring those cases to
circuit court to enter pleas will eliminate the normal 10-day lag time.

The faster track would save 10 jail days for each offender who is sentenced
to a state prison or the state boot camp program, Sheridan noted.

A proposal by Gov. Jennifer Granholm that would have diverted a large
number of offenders from state prisons to county jails has apparently
stalled, reported Circuit Judge Timothy P. Pickard. The proposal was to
revise state sentencing guidelines to reduce the number and length of
prison terms. Pickard said judges were told during a recent meeting that
opposition from county prosecutors and sheriff's has made the plan unlikely
to win passage in the Legislature.

Crowding is reported to be a problem in the state prison system while
several facilities remain closed.

"It's all a question of money," Pickard commented.

He also criticized recent proposals in the Legislature for new laws and
longer sentences to deal with non-payment of child support.

"It's a legislative shuffle, a PR tool, that makes them look like they're
tough on crime when it's actually just the opposite," Pickard said.

Prison sentencings by Lenawee County's circuit judges were significantly
lower last year than state statistics indicated for the county, reported
circuit court probation director James Olson.

During 2003, there were 270 felony sentencings in circuit court with 64
offenders given prison terms for a commitment rate of 23.7 percent. There
were also 139 probation violation sentences with 49 offenders given prison
terms for a 39 percent commitment rate.

The prison commitment rate so far this year is also less than 25 percent,
he said. Those statistics already meet goals set for Lenawee County to
renew a state grant that funds its new community corrections program, Olson
said.

LaBarr, who took over as program coordinator two weeks ago, said he has
caught up on the office's lagging paperwork from the two months the
position was vacant.

Reports show that from Oct. 1 to April 10, new diversion programs avoided
860 jail days for offenders and saved $30,000. The program has also
collected $5,310 in payments from offenders sentenced to the hard labor and
day reporting programs.