Sullivan Officials Considering Ways to Reduce Jail Crowding
Sullivan County officials, elated and “a bit surprised” by the $4.28 million jail construction bid, are scrambling on two other fronts involving the jail and its population for years to come.
The two issues are the Community Corrections Act and a class action lawsuit against the county by jail inmates. Both may be resolved this month, and both were the subject of urgent meetings Tuesday.
Most pressing in terms of time is the county’s participation in the state Community Corrections Act. A proposal must be in Nashville by 3 p.m.
Monday, and not until Tuesday did a critical element fall into place — support from the sentencing judges.
After receiving assurances that the rehabilitation program funded by the state would include residential treatment for alcohol and drug abusers, Calhoun said he would write a letter in support of the county’s application.
Calhoun described the treatment center as “our greatest need,” in part because it would provide a refuge for mentally retarded and emotionally disturbed criminals who “don’t belong with the general inmate population.”
He said 80 percent of the criminals he sentences have drug or alcohol problems which are not addressed in jail or prison. Such treatment, if successful, could reduce “addiction problems” that could later reduce the crime level.
Calhoun also had harsh words for Gov. Lamar Alexander and the state for shifting the burden of jail overpopulation from the state to the local level
“The governor and the Department of Correction can reduce the population and is in fact required to do so. But they choose not to, causing prisoners to back up in jails. Why local governments stand for that I don’t know.”
Calhoun did not speak for other sentencing judges, but said others he has spoken with are in basic support of the program. He said he would write a letter supporting the program after the county passes a resolution on the program at a called meeting Friday.
The program would allow for alternatives to imprisonment for certain inmates — nonviolent or first offenders — who would be on probation and perform community service work and, in some instances, pay restitution to their victims. If the county applies by Monday and if its proposal is accepted, the county will share up to $3.2 million with seven to 10 other programs the state is expected to fund this year.
Making the Community Corrections application even more important is the fear that U.S, District Judge Thomas Hull on June 24 may halve the population of the Sullivan County Jail of about 180,
County Executive Lon Boyd, County Attorney John McLellan III, Sheriff Mike Gardner and other officials met with the county’s judges Tuesday afternoon to consider “contingency plans” in the event that Hull rules jail overcrowding and conditions a violation of inmates’ constitutional rights.
Among alternatives being considered are delayed sentencing for inmates, releasing them on their own recognizance before trials, renovation of a closed school, the county’s acquisition of the building next to the old post office in Blountville, renting other property or constructing a metal building that can later be converted to other uses.
Hull threatened to cut the jail population in half at a hearing this spring when he certified several inmates’ suits a class action. Instead, he gave the county an ultimatum to act decisively and quickly to rectify problems at the jail regardless of delays in the construction of the new jail.
