ORANGE TO TRACK JAIL INMATES' MEDICAL NEEDS

Commissioners Approved A $9.2 Million Computer System, To Be Implemented By
2001

On the day they received a report detailing the shortcomings and
sardine-can conditions at the Orange County Jail, county commissioners
voted Tuesday to buy two computer systems for $9.2 million to track inmates
and their medical needs.

The 4-2 vote approving the systems, which should be up and running by the
end of 2005, was welcomed by the Jail Oversight Commission, which had
recommended the move.

The commission -- which includes judges, defense attorneys, health-care
experts, a prosecutor, a jail official, even the son of a woman who died
in jail --- was formed last summer by County Chairman Rich Crotty after the
second death at the jail in five years from forced methadone withdrawal.

Karen Johnson died last June while suffering methadone withdrawal. The
family is pressing forward with a lawsuit against the county but was
pleased with Tuesday's decision.

"I feel good about it," said Catherine Hirsch, Johnson's mother. Since
Johnson's death the county has launched a methadone program at the jail.

I think that a lot of these things wouldn't have happened if we hadn't
pushed them," Hirsch said. "I think if we hadn't asked questions, it would
have been dropped."

Commissioners voted to add $6.2 million to -the $3 million they had set
aside last year for the computer systems. The inmate-management system will
replace an outmoded system that cannot readily track inmates or produce
meaningful data about the jail population for managers.

The medical-management system will provide jail administrators with a
database showing how many inmates are receiving medical treatment and what
kind of treatment is being provided. Those records, more than 54,000, are
now stored in paper-file storage rooms.

"We're now in a position to do something about longstanding concerns. If we
delay doing these types of things, the jail can't move ahead," said Tirn
Ryan, the jail director hired this year. Digital Solutions Inc., a software
and systems company based in Altoona, Pa., won the contract to provide both
the inmate and medical computer systems.

Commissioners Homer Hartage and Ted Edwards cast dissenting votes against
the computer-system purchases - not because they disagreed with the need
for new systems but because of timing.

"We can't deal with this in a piecemeal approach," said Hartage, echoing
Edwards' concerns. Instead, both commissioners said they favored looking at
all possible reforms and purchases at once so that they can see the big
picture.

In addition to buying the computer systems, Crotty vowed to pursue a
University of Central Florida-backed study examining why blacks are
incarcerated at rates far exceeding whites. Blacks accounted for 41 percent
of the jail's population in 2000, but make up only 18 percent of Orange's
population.

Working for 10 months, the oversight commission made 202 recommendations. A
theme running through the report's hundreds of pages is that spending money
now can prevent tragedy and high costs in the future. For instance, a death
at the jail in 1997 from forced methadone withdrawal was resolved with a $3
million settlement.

Many of the recommendations come with large price tags. The recommendation
to build at least two courtrooms at the jail to cut down on transportation
and process costs is expected to cost $10 million. That proposal will be
considered May 21.

The report also recommended another computer system that would link the
jail, law-enforcement agencies and the courts. That system is expected to
cost $8 million; $4 million is already set aside.

Other recommendations, such as changing court procedures to speed the
selection of hearing dates, have no known cost yet.

Oversight Commission Chairman Bill Sublette said it would take more than
just the effort of county commissioners to make the proposals reality.

"This is going to take a team effort to make a difference," he said,
casting an eye across the crowded County Commission chambers, where
virtually all branches of local executive and judicial government were
represented.

The jail - designed to house 3,940 inmates - at times during the past year
has held more than 4,200. A $95 million expansion will bring the jail's
capacity to 4,446 inmates by 2004. But if nothing is done to address flaws
in the criminal-justice system, the expanded facility will be 43 percent
overcrowded by 2010.

During the next 90 days, as the county begins to hash through its budget
for the coming fiscal year, Crotty said he and his staff would investigate
which of the oversight commission's recommendations should be pursued
immediately and which can be delayed.

Pressed by commissioners, he said he would also prepare an accounting of
how much each recommendation would cost if implemented - and how much it
could potentially save the county in future costs.