Jail full - but it needn't be

The current Kootenai County commissioners have not been supportive of programs at Adult Misdemeanor Probation that help alleviate overcrowding of the jail. As former administrator of that department, I was involved in many debates with the commissioners as I sought grants and advocated for programs that would keep lesser offenders working and productive but still accountable.

The Pre-Trial Services Program collects data on offenders following their arrest to help judges make more informed decisions determining the need for incarceration awaiting sentencing, or if the offender can be released with supervision. This program runs nationally and has proven highly successful avoiding unnecessary incarceration and the expense that accompanies jailing. The program was secured for Kootenai County with grant money. In tracking the program and those involved in it, the data supports its success locally and cost savings to the taxpayer vs. incarceration.

The commissioners no longer like the program. It keeps people out of jail! A jail that needs to be full to prove the need for a new one. They informed me last July that the program will be discontinued in one year.

Last August I worked with the county grant writer and was successful in securing a SCRAM grant for electronic monitoring of probationers, allowing those on probation with alcohol-related offenses to be at work and at home rather than in jail. We stood before the commissioners as they disapproved implementing this grant, thinking it would support Pre-Trail Services. After much debate, they begrudgingly agreed to allow SCRAM to operate for one year.

Since September, the commissioners have cut one employee from the Pre-Trial Services staff and eliminated the Adult Misdemeanor Probation administrator position. They scrapped the four tens shift that the Adult Misdemeanor Probation officers were on which allowed more latitude for the POs to meet with working probationers and offer them more of an opportunity to report and not disrupt their jobs. They also have cut the K-9 Program.

If the current commissioners try to tell you they have done all they can to seek out and support programs that keep lesser offenders out of our jail and alleviate jail overcrowding, they lie. These are just a few examples. No one understands economic crisis better than I. During this hard economic time I could no longer stay silent watching the public chided by the commissioners for not voting to spend more money to build a new jail.

Michael Wall is a Coeur d'Alene resident.