CROWDING PLAGUES BIBB JAIL

County Lockup Becoming A Holding Pen For Felons

When James Kevin Keel escaped from the Bibb County Law Enforcement Center
in May, Sheriff Jerry Modena was not surprised.

Months before, Modena expressed doubt in his ability to hold the man who
faces 40 charges related to thefts and shootings last year. Keel is one of
many violent inmates being kept for lengthening periods in an overcrowded
jail, which is a problem for counties statewide.

Local jails were generally intended to hold criminals only for months, and
were not designed as maximum-security facilities for dangerous criminals,
Modena said. But Keel has been a resident for 409 days - minus the 63 hours
he spent on the lam - and his case is not expected to go to trial until
September.

Deputies had to build a special cell next to Keel to ensure other prisoners
can't pass him anything, and deputies check him every 15 minutes.
Nevertheless, the man who needs only seconds to turn a smuggled paper clip
into a lock pick or a weapon leaves Modena jittery.

"I wonder what he's doing when I go to bed at night, and in the morning
when I come in I ask what he's doing," Modena said.

Keel's escape highlights the gap between the demands placed on local jails
today compared to the county lockups of the past. Holding prisoners longer
while they await trial or prison beds creates perpetual overcrowding. This
in turn can make violent prisoners more belligerent and deputies more
harried. To alleviate the problem, Modena has asked other law enforcement
agencies to avoid making arrests for misdemeanor offenses such as drug
possession or public drunkenness.

The Bibb jail is one of only two in the state under a federal court order
to control its population, said John Southern, director of jail assistance
for the Georgia Sheriffs' Association. Bibb's jail is permitted to house no
more than 585 inmates, but Modena said his office has struggled since
January to keep the number that low, sometimes failing. During its worst
period, the jail exceeded the limit off and on during a 46-day span that
ended July 3.

The sheriff's office has 72 hours to reduce the population when it gets too
high. Selected prisoners serving time for nonviolent offenses are released,
but often new inmates push totals over the top again within 24 hours,
Modena said.

If the county continues violating its court order by housing too many
inmates, a federal judge can decide to hold Modena in contempt or fine the
county each day the jail is overfilled. If necessary, Modena said he would
stop accepting prisoners.

Too many felons

Although jails were once a place where locals served short sentences for
misdemeanors, about 75 percent of Bibb's inmates are felons - from armed
robbers to rapists - who await transportation to state prisons or committed
parole and probation violations.

Many sheriffs who run older jails - Bibb's is 22 years old - transfer their
tougher cases to more modern jails in other counties when they believe
their own security is inadequate, Southern said. But Modena said this costs
too much to be practical.

Modena said local overcrowding is due partly to state prison overcrowding.
The state's June 4 county jails report indicated that 78 Bibb inmates,
about 16 percent of the jail's population, were waiting for transportation
to state prisons. Only 10 jails in Georgia had more inmates in line for
state prison beds.

Although the state pays the jail $20 for each day it houses a state
prisoner, the actual cost of housing an inmate at the jail is $45.82 a day,
said sheriff's Maj. Russell Nelson.

"Because the state has space problems," Southern said, "the poor taxpayer
of Bibb is paying for it."

Convicted felons wait an average of six to 12 months in county jails,
Southern said.

But Lloyd Spickard, jail coordinator for the Georgia Department of
Corrections, estimated the average wait at two months, once the state
receives sentencing documents.

He added that Georgia's backlog of inmates waiting for prison beds is the
smallest in at least 13 years. In 1989, there were 5,000 inmates waiting in
county jails; in 1999, there were about 4,250. Spickard said the backlog is
only about 1,700 now, but state reports for June listed the number at 3,273.

The state also added some 700 prison beds in the last few months, Spickard
said.

Although Georgia's penitentiary system can accommodate 47,000, inmates
entering the system must wait for one of 2,000 "diagnostic beds" where
their mental state and security risk are evaluated, Spickard said.

But Spickard said Bibb should not be hurting. He cited the state's June
jail population report, which showed the jail only 81 percent full.

"Bibb is better than it's ever been," said Spickard. "I don't know why
they're squawking."

But Modena disputed the state statistics.

"I have no earthly idea what he's talking about," Modena said. "We have to
call the state constantly to come pick (inmates) up. We've told the state,
'We'll haul them out of here ourselves if you'll tell us where to haul them.' "

Southern said parole and probation violators, including felons, are also a
growing proportion of county jail populations statewide.

Greg Jones, district court administrator, said Superior Court judges who
sentence violators consider whether their behavior presents a risk to the
public. If the violator merely failed to pay a fine, the cost of housing
the person in jail might exceed the fine.

But Kenneth Allen, who recently served 236 hours of community service for
violating probation, said he was locked up for paying a DUI fine two weeks
late. He said overzealous probation officers are clogging the jail and work
programs with petty probation violators, while those who commit new crimes
are let out the back door.

However, loose enforcement of probation to help create jail space could
encourage people not to take the conditions of their probation seriously.

"When I did a study of Bibb County's inmate population, a lot of people who
had their probation revoked ... were getting really brazen, because they
knew they would just be released," said Southern with the sheriffs'
association.

State Court Judge Bill Adams, who hears many misdemeanor cases, said he has
even heard a few convicts ask to have their probation revoked because they
expect to be released quickly from jail - and the remainder of their sentences.

Adams expressed concern that if he revokes probation, the jail term he
prescribes is often dramatically reduced by the jail as it tries to free up
beds. At times, he sentences violators back to probation just to be sure
they remain under supervision for a longer period.

Effects of overcrowding

Many of the 148 functioning jails in Georgia are stretched at the seams. A
June state report showed 52 jails, including Baldwin County's, were
operating over capacity. Jones oversees superior court cases for 16
counties from the Macon/Warner Robins area to south of Columbus. He said
most jails in the district are experiencing a squeeze, although Bibb's
problem is the most significant.

Bibb releases prisoners to probation or cuts their sentences short if space
is tight. This has a number of consequences for public safety and other
agencies.

When inmates know overcrowding may result in their early release, the
spectre of jail is less likely to intimidate someone from committing a
crime, Southern said.

They also know they have a better chance of beating it out the back door if
they don't participate in the work release and work detail programs housed
in the low-security G-wing, Modena said. Those programs save the county
upward of $6,000 a year, so the sheriff's office attempts to keep the
inmates involved for their full sentences, releasing nonviolent offenders
in the main jail first.

Some inmates will deliberately break rules in the work programs so they'll
be returned to the jail. Modena said he makes a special effort to be sure
such offenders are not released early. But overcrowding still undermines
his efforts to expand work programs.

To combat the overcrowding problem, Modena has asked other agencies not to
make arrests when a ticket might do for loitering, public drunkenness or
corner drug deals.

"I'll tell them: Write citations. Don't bring 'em in," Modena said. "If our
decision is to hold an armed robber or a public drunk, the choice is obvious."

Modena said the worst overcrowding situations usually are caused by other
law enforcement agencies, such as the Macon police or Georgia State Patrol,
when they don't notify the jail before instituting a major campaign such as
rounding up drug users or the homeless. Modena discussed the problem with
Macon Police Chief Rodney Monroe and says he is grateful for the
cooperation he has received.

Modena said if other law enforcement agencies such as local police or the
state patrol bring in more petty offenders than the jail can handle, he
will stop accepting new inmates.

"They know when this jail's loaded up, we've got to be selective," Modena
said. "If I'm under a court order and my people are too crowded, I'll block
the jail. They can hold them in the parking lot if they want to."

But it is unlikely to come to that. Macon police Sgt. Anthony Hubbard said
Macon police have always written citations first for misdemeanors, so they
do not feel constrained by the sheriff's request.

"We're still making cases," Hubbard said.

Some have been concerned that, with so little room available, the sheriff's
office might be reluctant to hold prisoners for extradition to other states.

Art Hedgewald of the Indiana Department of Corrections and Parole was
frustrated when the Bibb jail staff booked a man on local charges, then
allowed him to post bail even though he was wanted in Indiana.

Terrance Antonio Hall was charged in May by a Georgia trooper with driving
without a license and possessing marijuana. Indiana had posted a hold for
Hall, who Hedgewald said violated parole by dealing cocaine.

Upon investigation, Modena determined that jail overcrowding had caused a
two-hour wait for booking; by the time jail personnel checked for warrants
on Hall, none showed up because the state patrol had cleared the Indiana
warrant from the system. Hall was released on bail and later pleaded guilty
to local charges. Thursday, sheriff's deputies re-arrested him for Indiana.

Modena said the incident was the result of a mistake rather than a policy
of not serving warrants when the jail is full. State police and sheriffs'
association officials said they have not heard of Bibb refusing to serve
warrants.

But the Hall mix-up did occur at a time when the jail hit its highest
numbers, well more than 600 inmates, and Modena was contemplating closing
it to further booking.

Overcrowding affects not only other law enforcement agencies but also the
courts. Modena said judges and probation officers have been helpful in
trying to sentence misdemeanor offenders to a fine and probation rather
than jail.

Otis Scarbary, State Court solicitor, said such sentences are typical for
first offenders who commit misdemeanors. Judges also set bail lower and
rush attorney appointments for those who can't make bond, he said.

Although he is glad to try to help the sheriff's office, Scarbary said that
sometimes the jail's space constraints might have resulted in sentences
that were too light.

"It's problematic," he said. "When you've got only one slot and multiple
offenders, it's difficult to decide who should be in jail longer."

Jail expansion

State records indicate that 33 counties, including Houston, are building
new detention facilities or adding to their current facilities. In June the
capacity of county jails increased by 293 beds to 33,069.

Bibb will soon see similar expansion. The County Commission recently
approved the sale of bonds to fund $22 million in additions and
renovations, which might be online by 2005. Modena said a facility-needs
study is under way to determine how many additional beds will be added, and
in what configuration.

Modena hopes to expand housing for the work release and work detail
programs at the same time, a move Southern recommended and local court
officials support.

All hope additional beds will alleviate the crisis, but Modena and Jones
noted that "if you build it, they will come." Many convicts currently
serving probation might be in jail instead if the option were available,
Jones said.

"It doesn't matter how many beds you have," Jones said. "You're going to
fill them up."