Sheriff approaches county board on jail crowding issue

by Angie Asam, Staff Writer

Sheriff Bob Paschke came before the Presque Isle County board of commissioners at their Friday morning meeting to discuss the ongoing problems with the overcrowding of the jail and the cost to house inmates in other jails in the area. ?This is really getting out of hand on us. We have been talking about this for a long time and it is at the point now where we have to make a decision and do something about this problem,? said Paschke.

The jail is rated by the state to hold 23 inmates at a time, and according to Paschke the last time the jail was under capacity was March 25 of this year. On average it costs the county $33.50 per day to have an inmate housed out, not to mention the costs the department incurs if that inmate needs to go see a doctor, go to court or a variety of other things.

When an inmate is housed elsewhere, the Presque Isle County Sheriff?s Department is still responsible to take those inmates to any appointments they might have, which means either pulling a deputy off the road or calling one in, gas, wear and tear on the vehicle and a variety of other costs that could be incurred.

In the past six months, just the cost for housing the inmates elsewhere has cost the county $20,000, not including costs for transportation and other expenses. Paschke is concerned that that money could be kept in this county instead of giving it to Alpena, Cheboygan or Montmorency County.

Paschke does not see any indication that the numbers will go down and the department has seen a spike in female inmates with 14 at the present time, which he says poses other problems for the department. Paschke also believes having extra inmates in the jail is posing liability problems.

Commissioners then asked Paschke and prosecuting attorney Rick Steiger along with undersheriff Joe Brewbaker about the possibility of using tethers on some offenders. ?Tethers have been an option for judges for years. But they are not a proper option. The individual has to pay for the tether and right now these people cannot afford that. It would be to your advantage to expand your jail,? said Steiger.

Other possible options, such as the use of pods rather than expansion to the jail were discussed and will be looked at in further detail. However, the problem according to Brewbaker and Paschke with pods is that they have to be monitored all the time which would mean having two correction officers on staff at all times, right now the county employs only one correction officer.

?We have a sign up at the department now, we physically cannot take anyone, we have no where to put them. Outside of major felonies or emergency arrests we have warrants that we cannot make arrests on,? said Brewbaker.

The commission and law enforcement officials continued to discuss the issue. With the closing of some Michigan prisons it is believed the problems are only going to continue to get worse as people are being let out and the state is running out of room to put people. No decisions were made on the issue but it will be a topic of discussion until the commissioner and Paschke can come to some kind of agreement about what to do to rectify the situation.

?It is costing us a lot of money to house out. We have to take a look at this. If we do expand the jail we will have to increase our staff,? said Paschke. The commissioners then discussed looking at the options of what it is costing the county now compared to what it would cost to do some expansion and increase the staff. The comparison of numbers will guide them in the decision making process. Paschke also spoke to the commissioners about the need for a jail administrator to be on staff. Right now the duties of jail administrator are the responsibility of

the undersheriff, but according to Paschke this poses a problem. ?When someone isn?t back there all the time they don?t get the life and pulse of the jail. With no administrator on staff to make decisions at times even a minor decision could cause a riot,? said Paschke. With overcrowding and other issues when inmates ask to make a phone call or do something so small, if no one can answer that question immediately or in a timely fashion inmates get upset. ?We are probably not getting the most we could be out of our jail and our staff right now, because we don?t have that oversight all of the time,? said Paschke.

No one sees an end in sight for the overcrowding problems at the county jail, and right now the county is able to house inmates in the adjacent counties, but as Paschke brought up, what about if those jails fill up and the county has to house inmates even farther in other counties. The issue will continue to be discussed and all options will be looked at before a decision is made. But it is clear that the problem is not going away and something needs to be done about it.