State prisoners unhappy at county jails

The view from above a dormitory in one Alabama prison is a sea of bunk beds covered by white sheets and blue blankets, with large fans humming over sleeping inmates.

Beds are at a premium at Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore County.

The crowded conditions in the 350-inmate Dormitory G are not unusual for the state prison system as the inmate population continues to climb.

"A bed opened today. It will be filled this evening," said Staton Warden Leon Forniss.

While the impact of state prison overcrowding is readily apparent on prison grounds, it may be even more evident in counties throughout Alabama, where the problem is spilling into county jails, costing local governments money they could spend elsewhere.

Housing long-term state inmates is pushing some county jails into an overcrowding situation. At the Autauga and Elmore county jails, some inmates sleep on mats on the floor.

While the state Department of Corrections is mandated to pick up its inmates within 30 days, sheriffs in those counties said they have kept state inmates for six to eight months. Some state inmates have stayed in the Elmore County Jail for more than a year.

Autauga County Sheriff Herbie Johnson and Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin attribute much of their counties' overcrowding to the lingering population of state inmates.

"If the state was able to extract their inmates from our jail, it would go a long way toward alleviating all of our overcrowdedness," Franklin said.

Franklin said 15 to 20 percent of the population in Elmore County's 242-bed jail are state inmates. In Autauga County, 25 of the 150 inmates are state prisoners.

Montgomery County has 70 state inmates.

As of Aug. 1, there were 1,148 state inmates in county jails and 647, more than half of those, had been there for longer than the mandated 30 days.

Tri-county jails spend between $17.60 and $42.25 a day per inmate, with Montgomery County spending $42.25 and Elmore County spending $17.60. It costs about $30 a day to house an inmate in Autauga County.

The state gives counties $1.75 a day for each state inmate, leaving the local sheriffs to make up the difference.

"Until the state legislators decide to change it, it is something we are going to have to live with," Franklin said of the low state funding. "It would be nice if the state of Alabama would modify it. I know they are up against the gun, too. They are trying to save money. I know they need additional personnel and additional prisons. It is one of many things that probably needs tweaking.

"I think any time we are able to receive additional monies from the state, it is always to our advantage."

Johnson said the difference in what the state pays the counties and what the counties spend on the state inmates can cripple small county budgets.

"The small counties, we suffer real bad," he said. "It is a very, very severe financial drain on the county, on my budget, on manpower, on everything."

Montgomery has a different problem

Montgomery County, like its neighbors, is suffering from overcrowding, though officials lay no blame on the state. County officials have approved $50 million to expand the Montgomery County Detention Facility to 1,001 beds.

Gina Savage, director of detention for Montgomery County, said they no longer have issues with the state picking up inmates within 30 days and, in fact, none of their 70 state inmates have been there more than 30 days.

"We really have a good working relationship with the Department of Corrections," Savage said. "They're really good about taking ours."

This has not always been the case. As late as a few years ago, the county had to push to get the state to take its prisoners. But things have improved dramatically, Savage said.

"It has gotten better since the initial complaints began," she said.

The county, though, has its hands full housing its own prisoners. Montgomery County is spending more than $24,000 a month to house inmates in Lowndes County because of overcrowding.

Sonny Brasfield, assistant executive director of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, said jails and prisons cannot be built big enough.

"The day you open them they will be full," he said. "It would seem to me that eventually we would realize we need to try and figure out why this happens every time."

Brasfield said the Montgomery County jail will be full when it opens.

"It is so popular to say 'I want to lock people up and throw away the key,' " he said. "Montgomery County can build a new jail. That is great if that is what the commission thinks it needs. It will be full when it is open. You can't build it big enough."

A case in point is the Autauga Metro Jail, which opened 15 months ago and already is 20 inmates over its capacity of 130. Unlike Montgomery County, though, Autauga has a problem with too many state inmates.

If the state prisoners were removed, Johnson said, the jail no longer would be overcrowded and inmates would not be sleeping on the floor.

"We talk to (state corrections officials), but they always tell us they have no beds," Johnson said.

He said the overcrowding and inmates sleeping on the floor could lead to litigation against Autauga County, and he does not believe he should be subjected to possible lawsuits because of state inmates.

Dropping prisoners at the door

There is another option.

In January 2004, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled county jails could drop off up to 100 state inmates per week who had stayed longer than 30 days, whether the state has money to house the inmates or not. After the ruling, the number of state inmates staying too long in county jails dropped to zero and stayed that way for about a year. Now the numbers are creeping back up again.

Brasfield said the state is reaching a crisis situation when counties will start transporting dozens of inmates to state facilities.

This method has been used in the past, but Brasfield said it has been avoided for the better part of the past three years.

"We are back to a point it is time to start bringing prisoners again," he said.

Franklin said he has heard and read about counties dropping inmates off at the state prisons. He does not plan to take inmates without consent from the Department of Corrections even though the Elmore County facility is over capacity by about 40 inmates on weekends.

"We are fortunate to have a good working relationship with the Department of Corrections," Franklin said. " I do not want to do anything to damage the relationship with the Department of Corrections. In the same breath, it would be nice if they would take all the inmates that are theirs."

He said the issue is about money.

"These are not our inmates, but it is incumbent upon us to keep them," Franklin said. "Until the state of Alabama and legislators make some changes and alleviate some of these existing problems we have got, this will continue and, the fact of the matter is, only get worse."

While dropping prisoners off at state facilities may be an option, Johnson said the issue probably will be resolved in a courtroom.

"Hopefully, some of the sheriffs will get together and go back to federal court," he said. "The only solution I know, the only way to get relief, is we are going to have to go back to court with them."

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