When 28 - 6 = 28???......(and costs Escambia Taxpayers $37,179.00*)

Basic arithmetic should not be this difficult for the state's department of corrections.....

There was a costly, frustrating, and exasperating event that was brought to my attention the other evening:  It had my blood boiling.

The caller was angry, and frustrated.  "Jeff, this is going to piss you off, I know it is, but you need to find out if this is true.  It is absolutely killing morale among some of the corrections officers"

The caller went on to describe the horrible outcome of our jail attempting to transfer 28 prisoners, already convicted and sentenced to state prison,  to the state's custody the day before.  Apparently, according this individual's account (and since confirmed by multiple sources), our jail had COVID tested all 28 of these convicts, got their paperwork in order, staffed three transport vans (with officers on OT to drive) along with a chase car with a supervisor on OT---and sent these prisoners 4 hours away at "zero dark thirty."  This was the plan, to transfer them to the state.  But like the best laid plans, sometimes they fall apart.  Upon arrival at the state facility---all of the convicts were tested again for COVID.  And what do you know, six of them tested positive.....

Okay--but now what?  I mean, it's not like we, at the county jail can turn away a prisoner that has COVID--we have to take them in and quarantine them.  Surely the state corrections department has to do this as well, right?

Wrong.

So here's where the story becomes incredibly infuriating.  Because, as we know, we are already housing MANY state prisoners at our county jail for zero compensation (although the costs to us for this service adds up to $90.00 per day per prisoner)----so the thought of handing off a group of 28 state prisoners to the state department of corrections was one that many in the jail were very relieved to be doing.  Not to mention that these convicted prisoners are among the most difficult for officers to deal with day in and day out....

But the state blew up the plan.  Apparently they have a policy against accepting any prisoner who has COVID or has been exposed to anyone who has COVID.  So they rejected NOT just the 6 positives---they sent ALL 28 State Prisoners back to Escambia County to be quarantined for a two week period before we can "attempt" to send them back again.  Can you believe that??

"The rub is, they would have quarantined them there anyway had they not tested positive--for 14 days!" said one exasperated, knowledgable source within the jail with whom I spoke.

"How much did this evolution cost the taxpayers of Escambia County!"  was my question to this individual.

"A lot---and after this COVID pandemic is over there will be dissertations written on just how costly

We're Getting Worked....Literally....to the Tune of $12,240.00 Daily

The State's prison transport buses leaving our jail and heading to the State's prisons have apparently been running empty as we currently supervise, some for long periods of time, 136 convicts that the State has not yet allowed us to transfer.......for $0 compensation......

$12,240.00 per day.  That's how much taxpayers of Escambia County are paying (based upon an estimated total cost of incarceration, daily, for a prisoner in our jail) to house prisoners who have already been adjudicated, convicted, and sentenced to serve at least one year + in state prison.

We are paying this cost because currently we have 136 inmates in our jail that are awaiting transport to state prison.  So we keep footing the bill until they are transported.

And oh, by the way, the state of Florida does not give us one thin dime in compensation/restitution for these extended stays in our jail.  Not for housing, supervision, consumables, or medical costs associated with the supervision of such individuals. Nada, zilch, zero.  Not a penny.

By contrast--Federal inmates housed in local facilities generate as much as $100 daily for the institution PLUS complete reimbursement for medical costs incurred by such facilities by the holding of said Federal Prisoners.

So why does the state not compensate local counties for these costs like the Federal Government does?  Why does the state foist their responsibilities on counties?

THE CATALYST

Recently, a local Circuit Judge looked into the carrying-out of the sentence of an individual which this Judge had imposed-- to ascertain whether or not it was being carried out as ordered.

Come to find out--this particular inmate has been in our jail since the sentencing in October--even though this individual had been sentenced to 4 years in State Prison.

Why?  was the question asked.  It's a question that I'd like to know the answer to as well. 

Because Judges are quite deliberate in their sentences.  

Sometimes, it is a sentence of one year and one day specifically so such an individual will go to state prison.  Sometimes it is because such an individual has committed so many infractions, over and over, repetetively, that a bus ride to a state facility for the minimal period allowed is precisely what a Judge has in mind.  

But most times, it is because such an offender has committed and been convicted of  a serious crime.

"If it is a minor drug offense, even crack cocaine in small amounts under the weight which would indicate trafficing--those inmates will never see state prison for that offense.  Heck, they probably won't even be sentenced to county jail for that infraction--they'll get probation." said one individual with whom I spoke who is intimately familiar with the criminal justice system locally.  

"The state has closed a couple of facilities down south and they have major issues with staffing, just like we do locally, so they are moving very slowly on the transfers of inmates out of local jails." said an individual with whom I spoke who is intimately familiar with the operations of our jail locally.  "We are starting to see some better movement by the state, and we are getting these transfers accomplished but it is not as quickly as we would like.  We typically transfer out the most aggressive, violent, and longest-sentenced prisoners first--because those are the prisoners who are the most difficult to deal with."  This individual stated.

The Board of County Commissioners have collectively already made getting jail medical costs under control by asking the legislature to work toward a more equitable, legilsative solution for us to be able to recoup high-dollar medical costs from Medicare and Medicade where this would be applicable.  But now that I see the amount of local tax dollars we are expending to help alleviate the state's prion staffing and occupancy challenges--I believe we need to add some sort of reimbursement issue to this ask as well.  There is no free lunch, and the State should pay us for these costs if they can't take their prisoners in a timely fashion.  We all know there is no free lunch----but right now we are getting our lunches handed to us by the state.  We're getting worked---and we need to get this righted.

I'll be looking to discuss this at an upcoming meeting.  I'll also be discussing it with our delegation members.