On jail idea, too many questions unanswered

The Jail/Law Enforcement/Courts Committee of the Washington County Quorum Court recently approved an ordinance to spend $250,000 of American Rescue Plan funds for architectural and engineering services for an $18 million-plus expansion to the Washington County jail, their first public step (this time) toward jail expansion.

Sheriff Tim Helder spoke about jail overcrowding and why the expansion is necessary because of the pandemic, increased population growth and other factors.

We heard there are 235 pretrial detainees out of a total 662. Those in jail have been there an average of 11 times prior. We heard the jail is terribly understaffed and 67 people were sleeping on the floor. We did not hear why the sheriff is still renting jail beds to federal prisoners despite a resolution passed by the court in February 2020 asking him not to do that.

Here are some other things we did not hear: Why are we ignoring the recommendations from the Criminal Justice Assessment by the National Center of State Courts? That study tells us what we must do to reduce our jail population. Why aren’t we doing that?

We didn’t hear of any efforts to address the high rate of drug and drug-related charges, which made up 11.2% of all offenses in Washington County in 2020. Therapeutic treatment for drug addiction is essential for reducing our incarcerated population.

We did not hear how many in jail suffer from mental health issues, or what the county is doing to get the Crisis Stabilization Unit up and running to restore those beds we lost when it closed.

We did not hear about an independent cost analysis proving the actual cost the county will incur to maintain a larger jail. Taxpayers already pay a one-fourth cent sales tax for jail maintenance and operation, and that’s not nearly enough to run our current jail. How can it possibly support a jail with 230 more beds? Can this court promise a tax increase is not in our future?

One justice of the peace asked, “Nothing’s changed, has it?”

In the Washington County justice system, nothing has changed because we haven’t done anything to make it change.

What has changed since 2019 when the jail expansion was last brought forward (other than the pandemic) is that Washington County is set to receive $46 million from the American Rescue Plan. The Quorum Court gets to decide how that money will be spent, not us taxpayers, though it is our money.

The court’s No. 1 job is to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. Spending money just because we have it without regard to what is best for the community, our children and grandchildren, without listening and exploring what else we can do, and actually putting in the hard work to do that, is not good stewardship. It is taking the easy way out. Do the justices of the peace want this to be their legacy?

BETH COGER

Fayetteville