JAIL COSTS HIT $1 MILLION, MERCER OFFICIALS SAY

PRINCETON -- Once promoted as a cost-saving measure, the state's regional
jail system has become a financial burden that is costing Mercer County
nearly $1 million a year in jail fees, county officials say.

Being one of the busiest circuit and magistrate court systems in the state
compounds the problem, said Joe Allen, chief adult probation officer for
Mercer County.

Allen said the county had 339 felony indictments last year, 756 felonies
processed in magistrate court, 4,473 misdemeanor cases and 893 domestic
violence cases, among others.

"We are consistently among the top five in the state when it comes to court
cases," he said.

The county is considering a day-report center as a cost-saving, sentencing
alternative for those convicted of nonviolent crimes.

Allen said that at least 40 percent of incarcerated offenders are
nonviolent, including drug offenders and those found guilty of such things
as forgery, shoplifting, grand larcenies. These offenders, he said, could
benefit from alternative sentencing programs that a day-report center could
offer.

Jim Baker, director of crisis services and staff development for the
Southern Highlands Community Mental Health Center, is co-chair of a
committee formed to advance the day-report center project and seek funding.

"On the mental health side, probably one-fourth of the beds in state
hospitals are filled with substance abusers," Baker said, "so the savings
in medical costs could be extensive."