Ever since I took office
in January of 2014, criminal justice reform has been at the forefront of nearly
every conversation we have about the budget. Now the county is in a position to
either build more pods to house more prisoners or can invest in alternatives to
keep low-risk offenders from cycling in and out of jail. Nearly one-third of
homeless people are booked into jail in a 12-month period and during that same
period the average offender was booked on two new charges and spent an average
of three months in jail. The jail has become housing for the homeless and that
was never intended to be its use.
The homeless population isn’t the only issue that the jail
faces. The mentally ill and those with substance abuse disorders are also a
high priority. Data shows that the mentally ill spend twice as long in jail
than the non-mentally ill inmate. This presents a huge problem that costs money,
staffing, and time that is costly to taxpayers. The bottom line is that our
jail is crowded. When the jail opened there was a capacity of 2,000 beds and
since that time the population of Salt Lake County has grown by 230,000 people.
In 1995 taxpayers agreed to pay for the new jail at $9.4
million per year for 20 years. This December the bond will be expired. Normally
when a bond is expired that money is sent back to the taxpayer. Instead, this
proposal asks taxpayers to continue paying that $9.4 million for the
foreseeable future. There would not be an increase to a resident's tax bill, but they would not receive an $18 per year decrease.
In 2014, the Salt Lake County Jail saw a 17 percent increase in the number of new felony charge bookings. The same year, the District Attorney’s office experienced a 12 percent increase in criminal cases brought for screening by law enforcement. The Legal Defender’s Association is similarly seeing increased caseloads. County probation caseloads are too high to provide effective supervision and successful interventions. Nearly 30 percent of the homeless population was booked into jail in a 12-month period. The average offender was booked for two new charges and spent an average of three months in jail. The staggering impact of this “revolving door” at the jail costs the sheriff and jail staff time, money and does nothing to deal with the underlying cause. For those in jail, there are the costs to them personally, to their families and ultimately to the surrounding community.
In 2014, the Salt Lake County Jail saw a 17 percent increase in the number of new felony charge bookings. The same year, the District Attorney’s office experienced a 12 percent increase in criminal cases brought for screening by law enforcement. The Legal Defender’s Association is similarly seeing increased caseloads. County probation caseloads are too high to provide effective supervision and successful interventions. Nearly 30 percent of the homeless population was booked into jail in a 12-month period. The average offender was booked for two new charges and spent an average of three months in jail. The staggering impact of this “revolving door” at the jail costs the sheriff and jail staff time, money and does nothing to deal with the underlying cause. For those in jail, there are the costs to them personally, to their families and ultimately to the surrounding community.
A just-completed independent study by The Council of State Governments Justice Center found:
- One out of three people on pretrial supervision and one out of two people on county probation do not fulfill the requirements of their supervision.
- People with mental illnesses stay longer in jail and return more frequently than people without mental illnesses.
- Reduce incarceration for low level offenders
- Reduce recidivism by implementing programs proven to work
- Promote substance abuse and mental health treatment as viable and widely available alternatives to incarceration.
- Maintain a focus on public safety while looking for opportunities to strengthen prevention efforts.
If this tax extension passes, I would push for a working group made up of the council, sheriff, DA, mayor's office, behavioral health, criminal justice staff, and other stakeholders, to figure out priorities for these funds. I believe it would be irresponsible not to make some drastic changes now to criminal justice. The longer we wait, the bigger the problem becomes, the longer it takes to make changes, and the more expensive it becomes for taxpayers.
Amy, I don't like any of your alternatives. I think you have left some important ones out. First I have followed you on the county budget talks and would like to thank you for leading the charge to cut waste out of the budget. But to take earmarked funds voted on for a specific project and then when the time is up not give it back, even though it is for a similar project, defeats the purpose for earmarked funds and I thought was illegal? You have to ask why do we have so much criminal behavior that we are ever providing facilities and services for this element? We all know that when the economy gets pinched, crime increases. Maybe we should invest more efforts in building our economy than in prison space? To over tax is one more pinch if not from the county entity, there are many other taxing entities, cities, schools, gas tax, sales tax, state tax, property tax, than add to that government fees and the citizens start to feel like cows, being milked for more and more by the government that is supposed to be of the people, by the people and for the people. At some point competing entities for the tax dollars should have to cut back, prioritize and live within means we tax payers can afford. Another reason for increase crime is attracting such criminals to our state, because we offer more pickings or an easier way than other states. If drugs could not be found here or the punishment harshest of all other states, they would not chose to be here. If you are in for a detox, you may not get private accommodations or maybe no bed for a night. Every time I hear on the news about some criminal, he has a rap sheet that is long.
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