County eyes shifts in jail operations
Five budgeted positions at the Garland County Juvenile Detention Center will be transferred to the adult jail as the sheriff’s department prepares to open an additional housing unit to absorb overcrowding at the adult facility.
Justices of the peace approved the transfer last week in a joint meeting of the Garland County Quorum Court Finance and Human Resources committees. The move was in advance of reduced funding the sheriff’s department will seek for the juvenile jail’s 2020 budget.
Emails and documents The Sentinel-Record obtained last month through a public records request suggested the department was considering closing the facility and outsourcing juvenile detention to the Jack Jones Juvenile Detention Center in Jefferson County.
Close to $1 million was budgeted from the general fund in 2019 to house an average daily population of 11 juveniles at the county’s 22-bed juvenile facility, according to population reports, which showed the daily count dropping to as few as five residents during the summer months.
The department announced last month that it was no longer feasible to operate the facility at current funding levels. Sheriff Mike McCormick said Wednesday that reduced funding will be requested for 2020. It’s unclear if the county intends to place juvenile offenders with other agencies. Jefferson County quoted a $164,250 annual cost to reserve six beds for Garland County.
“I am requesting that the Garland County Quorum Court continue to fund the juvenile detention facility at a reduced level for 2020,” McCormick said in an email. “Until this goes through the statutory process I believe it inappropriate to discuss further.”
Andrew Pennington, the department’s finance manager for detention operations, told JPs in a letter last month that transferring five positions will allow the adult jail to open another housing unit. Overcrowding has caused intake restrictions that have been in place for women since February and men since last month.
The department has said the restrictions, which often require inmates to be released before new ones can be booked, will remain in effect until male and female populations reach 252 and 58, respectively. According to a report the department provided in response to a records request, male and female populations averaged 308 and 95 from Sept. 4 to Oct. 7.
The joint committee of JPs also approved adding a position to the adult jail fund’s 2020 budget to further accommodate an operational expansion. A 0.375 percent countywide sales tax voters authorized in 2011 supports the jail fund.
Division 2 Circuit Judge Wade Naramore, who presides over the county’s juvenile court, told JPs that detention is no longer a focus of juvenile justice, explaining that most offenders respond better to less punitive means.
“We have 100,000 people in the county,” he said. “With that number of population you’re going to have some folks that need to be incarcerated. But that being said we’ve been able to scale back on any given day from 18 to about 10 (at the juvenile jail). It just depends on the time of year.
“Summer is slow. Winter is slow. Fall and spring get busy. I’m pleased we’re able to free up some resources to help fund the adult pod to get some adults off the street that need to be incarcerated to keep our community safer.”
JPs approved Naramore’s request to add a full-time bailiff to the juvenile court’s 2020 budget, a move he said will be needed if the quorum court decides to cut juvenile detention funding.
“We anticipate the need to have more juveniles on house arrest as a result of these changes and additional security and supervision requirements for these juveniles on house arrest,” he said in a letter to JPs. “The bailiff will help with the increased workload in this area and verify pretrial release conditions by accompanying the court’s intensive tracking supervisor on home visits.”
The letter said the position could also serve summonses and other court papers for the juvenile division. Savings from other line items will offset the cost of the new position, the letter said.