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WHAT'S UP IN NEW DEVELOPMENT
Jail Time: While the Classic Center expansion
has drawn more attention these past months,
the number one project on the SPLOST 2011
list—the $76 million expansion and renova
tion of the Athens-Clarke County Jail—is
moving along, as ACC Manager Alan Reddish
pointed out at a recent mayor and commis
sion work session. Bid proposals came in last
week, and an eight-to-nine-month design
process will start when the commission selects
a contractor in May. Construction bids go out
next year, and the new structure should be
operational in 2014; $11.2 million of the cost
goes for debt financing to enable the quick
turnaround.
Many voters considered the jail improve
ments a major imperative for approving the
35-item SPLOST list last November. The county
spent $2.4 million last fiscal year housing
inmates elsewhere, according to jail officials,
and the jail population continues to grow.
The crowded, aging facility, rated for 338
beds and housing 485 at last count, was often „
referred to during the 2011 election cycle as a
potential target for a federal lawsuit.
The Department of Justice has conducted
investigations and litigation to address "dire,
often life-threatening" violations of inmates'
federal rights, according to its website. The
"vast majority" of investigations are resolved
through voluntary efforts by the local institu
tion rather than lawsuits. Internet research
turns up two investigations in Georgia, both
from 2004: one found dangerous conditions,
including raw sewage leaks and often one
guard per 200-300 inmates, at the Fulton
County Jail; another found that a lack of
supervision had allowed a suicide at Terrell
County Jail. Mentions of a lawsuit also came
up six years ago, during the SPLOST 2005 ref
erendum discussions, but the jail, in the end,
was not included in that list of projects.
The request for proposals for the new jail
calls for a total of 680 secure beds along with
infrastructure to accommodate 1,100 in the
future; 336 beds are minimum security, 144
are medium, and 72 maximum.
Diversion Center: Coming on line even sooner
is the county-run Diversion/ Work Release
Center, a residential facility for nonviolent
inmates who have been sentenced to work
release programs. The $3.3 million SPLOST
2005 project stands to divert some inmates
from the jail and save the county money when
construction concludes this coming December.
Now that the center is being built, officials
are positive about the opportunity to divert
nonviolent offenders from the jail, provide
support for employment, reduce recidivism and
manage inmates at a lower cost to the com
munity. Work-release inmates pay a lodging
fee out of their salaries and can remain pro
ductive during their time in the system. The
facility will open with accommodations for 50
inmates and could eventually house 80.
A Broader Look: While the jail clearly needs
intervention to reach an acceptable standard,
I spoke with some progressive activists who
encouraged a broader look at our community's
efforts to handle crime and offenders. How
will the jail function with regard to decreas
ing recidivism, reintegrating offenders into
the economy and
discouraging future
crime? The situation
seems bleak so far:
the Athens Justice
Project website
reports that the aver
age ACC Jail inmate
has been arrested
11 times since 1992,
and that addiction,
mental illness, prior
unemployment and
unpreparedness for
work are widespread
and not adequately
addressed.
Other citizen
activists feel that
a good deal of the
jail money would be more wisely spent on
increasing diversion/ work-release capacity,
which is significantly cheaper and focuses
on reintegration, and also on preventing
crime, arrests and jail time—especially repeat
offending. Officials say that the current diver
sion center capacity of 50 is based on a formal
study estimate of likely eligible nonviolent
inmates. With 336 minimum-security places in
the total jail program after expansion, is there
room for argument on this? And could we use
more discussion on why jail capacity has had
to triple in recent decades?
There exist compelling models for decreas
ing the criminal activities that most affect
quality of life in a community. The National
Network for Safe Communities (www.
nnscommunities.org) propounds a strategy of
directly engaging those likely to participate in
group violence and overt drug markets. Typical
results for the group violence program are
33-50.percent decreases in those crimes and
the "reclaiming" of public spaces by the wider
community.
Athens also has a network of government
and nonprofit initiatives to divert offenders
from jail—foi example, the DUI/drug court
and mental health court, and the Athens
Justice Project's combination of legal repre
sentation and probation treatment that both
costs half of what incarceration would and
helps put offenders on a more stable path.
One citizen who was involved in SPLOST
project discussions had a sobering viewpoint:
"Granted that new construction is sometimes
urgently needed, but building a building—
whether part of a jail, convention center or
other institution—is usually simpler than
tackling the complexities of the underlying
issues like public safety, economic develop
ment, unemployment, education. It's the
nature of bureaucracy."
Katie Goodrum athensrising@tiagpole com
A conceptual aerial view of the planned jail.
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