I was surprised when I opened the Metro Section of the paper today to find an article about the problems on overcrowding at the jail. Jail overcrowding problems have been around for years and they will be around long after we are gone unless something drastic is done to keep people from committing crimes and when government officials wake up and realize that the population is increasing and feel good programs like midnight basketball don't work.
Jerry Abramson formed a committee 6 months ago of Judges, Defense attorneys, Community Leaders and Correction Experts to look at the Jail overcrowding. Let us break that down a bit.
Judges are a good choice but the choice of Judges can sometimes be suspect. We have some very competent jurists that are well respected not only by the Law Enforcement Community but by the Legal Community as well. I don't mind listening to them, but I wouldn't want to see a judge that puts murder suspects on H.I.P or ones that release shooters and hold Correction Officials in contempt sitting on this commission.
Who decided that defense attorneys would be a good choice to look at jail overcrowding? Where do defense attorneys come into play in criminal trials? Oh yes, they are always the ones that try and get their clients out of jail and try and find any loophole to get their clients off. Of course they were the perfect choice for expressing their opinion about "not" putting or keeping people in jail, but I keep forgetting our Mayor has strong ties with this group. I would suppose that a 0% jail population is ultimately their goal.Next we find the over used tag group called "Community Leaders". Just who are these stanchions of society and why don't we know who they are? What do Louis Coleman and Christopher 2X know about correction's issues other than that they have both served time? Also, how will having community leaders writing jail policy help overcrowding. All it will do is further tie up the hands of Correction Officers.
Were the "Correction Experts" that were cited from our area or did he once again go away form the people that actually do the job to ask them about what they feel needs to be done? Why is it that we don't have experts on anything here in Louisville yet Abramson can go out of town and find lots of them at our expense?The committee talked about alternative programs such as increased use of electronic monitoring devices. I think that is a good idea. I was shocked to learn that some programs such as the misdemeanor intensive probation program currently do not employ such devices. We have a plethora of individuals roaming the street that have been convicted of crimes and sentenced that we have no idea where they are at on a day to day basis. The community would definitely benefit from an increase in this area.
They also talked about a "sober up shelter". We used to have one of these back in the early 90's in the 200 Block of South Shelby Street but all it was, was a flop house for the habitual drunks. It was not used for the regular drunks who have had too many in a bar and have made a public nuisance of themselves. It didn't address the problem of alcoholism like the Healing Place does. Maybe this is a lukewarm idea for the Mayor to eliminate those unsightly beggars from the sight of the intelligentsia without wasting tax dollars and jail space. Let's not solve the problem. Let's just hide it somewhere else.
The day reporting center doesn't sound bad, but something like this should only be used for people at minimal risk to our community. Just as "the watch" should never be used for murder suspects. Also where is this center supposed to be located? I sure as hell don't want it in my neighborhood.
Another part of the recommendation was to outsource the work release program. Didn't we used to do this but 10 years ago it was a bad idea? Why is it that programs that worked were eliminated by this same mayor and now all of a sudden they are good ideas again? Does this mean that his elimination of it in the first place was a bad idea?
Why didn't the committee address issues like drug use? What seems to be one of our biggest problems needs to have more attention. Why not go after the drug users for a change? When we catch the recreational drug users, let's take the fun out of "getting high" for them. Let's put them to work picking up trash along the highways in bright pink jumpsuits and make it uncomfortable and embarrassing for them. Let's publish their names. Let's make it not fun to get high.
Lastly, and the one I got the biggest laugh out of was let's encourage the police to issue tickets (so Jerry can still get his $20 bounty money per citation) and not arrest people because that costs more money. Whom do you recommend that we let go? Should we cite and release the Domestic Violence perpetrators, the murderers, the armed robbers or the burglars? It is not up to the police to determine this. Our job is to enforce the laws it is up to the Judges to decide whether or not they should be released.
Before I end though, I would like to note that apparently the police were left out of this committee. I would suppose it was because we really know nothing about crime and who should be in jail but defense attorneys an community leaders have a better feel for the pulse of what is happening in the criminal justice system and who should be allowed to roam our streets.