FEDERAL PRISONERS JAM COUNTY'S JAIL, WORKHOUSE

The battle against methamphetamine in Southeast Tennessee is part of
the reason Hamilton County's jail and workhouse are bulging at the
seams, local officials say.

On any given day, about 250 federal prisoners wait in local lockups
to be tried, county Chief of Staff Jeannine Alday said last week.
They're split about evenly between the county jail and Silverdale
Workhouse, comprising roughly a quarter of the prisoner population in
each of those facilities.

Jail chief Jim Hart said a "big proportion" of those prisoners are
facing drug charges from the three-year methamphetamine crackdown in
Hamilton and 17 surrounding counties.

"We were averaging about 30 to 40 a day" before the Methamphetamine
Task Force cranked up, Chief Hart said. The federal government has
put $3 million into the meth crackdown so far.

Terese Robinson of the U.S. Marshal's office in Chattanooga said not
only are there more federal prisoners in local cells, they're staying
longer awaiting trial.

Under federal law, if the crime they are charged with carries a
penalty of 10 years or more, no bond is allowed, she said.

Besides the methamphetamine defendants, there usually are a
sprinkling of crack cocaine dealers and bank robbers in the local
jail as well, Ms. Robinson said. Chief Hart said the county also
holds illegal immigrants for the Immigration and Naturalization
Service.

"Jail crowding is just people (in law enforcement) who are doing
their job," he said. The jail's capacity is 489, but the average head
count is 581, he said.

"Obviously if the federal inmates were gone, we would be under our
capacity," Chief Hart said.

The county has applied for up to $18 million in federal grants to
build a new lockup for federal prisoners. Ms. Alday told county
commissioners last week she hopes for word on the grants by the end
of the month.

The federal center most likely would be located at the Silverdale
Workhouse, she said. The county would have to decide whether to staff
the facility or contract with Corrections Corporation of America,
which operates the workhouse, to run it, she added.

Uncle Sam now pays the county $34 a day for each federal prisoner at
the workhouse and $56 a day a for each prisoner at the county jail,
Ms. Alday said.

Separately, a Hamilton County Grand Jury has recommended building a
new county jail.

Sheriff John Cupp said a new federal lockup would only delay, not
end, the need for a new county jail.

When the county spent $8 million remodeling the jail around 1994, it
expected to have adequate space through 2005, he said. Instead, the
cells filled up almost right away. He said the laundry, kitchen and
other needs have "outgrown" their facilities.

Chief Hart said he has talked to the sheriff about a Department of
Justice program that brings together law enforcement, judges,
prosecutors and others involved in criminal justice to look for ways
to ease jail populations. Those methods could include new jail space,
more early releases, creation of more diversionary programs and other
tactics, he said.

Chief Hart said the public often assumes that the sheriff and jailers
are responsible for solving jail overcrowding.

"But a lot of times the sheriff and the people running the jail have
the least opportunity to try to correct that problem," Chief Hart
said.

Uncle Sam ought to play a part in that correction by helping the
county build new space, said Commissioner Harold Coker, chairman of
the county's Security and Corrections committee.

"It's' a good solution, not a perfect solution, in that it doesn't
take any property tax dollars, of which we have none," he said.