MANY IN JAIL FOR REPEAT OFFENSES

Jailers Say Drug Use A Major Factor In Recidivism

It cost Warren County about $2 million last year to house 8,714 Warren
County Regional Jail inmates, 61 percent of whom were repeat offenders.
Recent computer upgrades allowed the jail staff to monitor for the first
time the recidivism rate, which is the number of inmates reincarcerated
within two years of being released from prison through parole, shock
probation or completion of sentence. The most recent Kentucky Department of
Corrections study in 2000 shows Kentucky's recidivism rate at 27.5 percent,
about on par with a 1985 figure of 27.2 percent. Warren County Assistant
Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Cohron said there were a couple factors
affecting the significant difference in recidivism rates statewide and
countywide. "Warren County has the third largest felony caseload in the
state," he said. "We are also one of the few counties who waits for drug
test results from the lab before indictment." The statewide rate declined
in nearly all crime categories between 1989 and 2000 except drug-related
arrests, which rose from 20.4 to 28.7 percent repeat offenders. "We see a
lot of repeat customers," said Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force
Detective Brad Spillman, adding that recidivism is not limited to
drug-related crimes. Warren County Jailer Jackie Strode said although
recidivism spreads across all crime categories, most offenses can be traced
back to drugs. "A lot of the folks who are here committed a crime to
purchase the meth or the crack or the cocaine or whatever it is; so my
estimation is somewhere between 90 and 95 percent of the people who are
housed here are in on substance-related charges," Strode said. Logan County
Jailer Bill Jenkins sees a similar scenario in the Logan County Detention
Center. Six months ago, more than three-quarters of the center's total
inmate population were being housed on drug-related charges, he said. "A
high percentage of our inmates are arrested on drug charges or robbery or
theft arrests where they're getting the money to buy drugs," Jenkins said,
adding his "conservative guess" that half of Logan County Detention
Center's 135 inmates are repeat offenders. Drugs also proved to be a
problem on the national front, according to the two most recently released
U.S. Department of Justice studies from 1983 and 1994, which tracked the
number of prisoners released and reincarcerated within a three-year period.
Those studies showed the national recidivism rate rose from 62.5 percent in
1983 to 67.5 percent in 1994. There was an increased number of repeat
offenders in all crime categories, but most of all in drug-related arrests.
That category saw an increase from 50.4 percent in 1983 to 66.7 percent in
1994. Jenkins and Strode agreed the situation could be helped by additional
toxicology labs throughout the state to speed up the process of testing
substances and prosecuting drug offenders. Strode said he would
particularly like to see a lab come to Warren County. "When we catch
inmates with a contraband substance and we don't get the results back,
rather than going on continuing to hold the inmate, we occasionally ask the
commonwealth to dismiss those charges," Strode said. "If we had a lab here,
the process would be sped up." Spillman said a delay in test results often
slows the indictment process, opening a new window of time for repeat
offenders to commit new crimes. "Kentucky law gives 60 days to indict
somebody, but they can get out on bond any time during those 60 days if the
judge sees fit," Spillman said. "They have to be let out after 60 days if
they're not indicted, and that goes back to the delay in lab results."
Cohron agreed it is not uncommon to see new crimes committed by repeat
offenders while they are out of jail awaiting a decision by a grand jury on
their previous charges. Warren County Fiscal Court District 2 Magistrate
Cedric Burnam referred to a new toxicology lab as a necessary, but
"short-term" solution for the recidivism rate. "A toxicology lab would help
expedite the prosecution process and the ultimate result of that is it
costs the taxpayers less money for the housing of the prisoners," Burnam
said, adding that a more long-term solution could be the funding of
rehabilitation programs. "I would like to see our legislators set aside
more funding for the rehabilitation process," Burnam said. "Some states are
putting more of their money into rehabilitation programs and have high
success rates with those in reducing repeat offenders."