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Hidden with code "Submitted as Feature" |
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News :: Miscellaneous |
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ADMINSTRATOR FAILS TO BRING INMATE PHONE CONTRACT TO COUNTY BOARD |
Current rating: 0 |
by Sandra Ahten
Email: spiritofsandra (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified!)
Phone: 217-367-6345 |
09 Jan 2005
Modified: 08:41:48 PM |
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Champaign County gets a kickback of more than $14000 per month from the company that provides inmate jail phone services. Denny Inman, a Champaign County Adminstrator failed to bring the phone contract before the board in a timely manner. Whether the timing was calculated or inadvertent, the result is that some members of the finance committee seem to be resigned to renewing the present phone contract because there is not adequate time to put the contract out for bid. |
******CU CITIZENS FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE CALL FOR IMPROVED CONDITIONS AT THE COUNTY JAIL.
A spate of suicides at the Champaign County Jail recently have raised concern about the conditions at the jail. One policy change has been implemented, but serious problems remain. Members of the CU Citizens for Peace and Justice attended the recent Finance Committee meeting of the Champaign County Board on January 7 to voice their concerns and offer suggested remedies. ******
ADMINSTRATOR FAILS TO BRING INMATE PHONE CONTRACT TO COUNTY BOARD
At the Finance Committee meeting of the Champaign County Board on January 7, County Administrator Denny Inman provided information and fielded questions regarding the contract for the phone service for inmates at the county jail. But Mr. Inman left one fact unclear – why he had failed to bring the matter of the phone contract before the board in a timely enough manner that it could be properly negotiated. Whether the timing was calculated or inadvertent, the result is that some members of the finance committee seem to be resigned to renewing the present phone contract because there is not adequate time to put the contract out for bid.
The present contract, with Evercom Systems of Irving, Texas, is set to expire on February 1, 2005. The contract has a clause in it that allows for it to be renewed with the same terms and conditions if they give written notice at least 30 days prior to expiration (Jan. 1). At minimum then, this contract should have gone before the board in O ctober or November of 2004 in order to look at options before the January 1st date. Given the fact that this service contract has a long history of being a hotly debated topic at County Board level, it is reasonable to ask why it was not brought before the board as early as August of 2004.
Mr. Inman asked for and received a thirty day extension of the contract. The County Board members should insist that this be extended to ninety days, or the amount of time necessary to properly assess the current available alternatives.
TOO FEW OPTIONS GIVEN
The jail phone service contract is controversial because the County, like many municipalities across the nation, has come to rely on the lucrative compensation (kickback) that the phone service provider gives them. This practice of drastically overcharging the families of inmates who must accept overpriced collect calls in order to communicate with incarcerated family members provides Champaign County more than $14,000 per month in revenues. In the last two years of the contract the County has received $347,000 payment from Evercom. This includes a $10,000 "signing bonus."
At the meeting, Mr. Inman did show options of contracting for the same service with SBC and Consolidated Communications. In these comparisons, Evercom’s rates were higher, but not by large margins. However, Mr. Inman did not disclose what the "compensation" offered by these companies would yield and what the companies would charge without this "compensation."
Mr. Inman presented the option of having the county provide their own phone service estimating that this would cost the county $50,000 to $60,000 to install and that the County would have to hire an operator to manage the system.
What Mr. Inman did not offer was any indication that he researched any
type of service that was somewhere in between these two extremes. County board members must insist that it is the duty of the administrator to investigate all options. It is unrealistic to believe that the only options are A) a cost to the county of more than $50,000 the first year and B) a profit to the county of $178,000 the first year. ($10,000 signing bonus plus $14,000 for 12 months). *****A cost to the county is a burden on taxpayers in general, but excessive profit is an unfair burden on the families of inmates.****
THE SHERIFF’S CONCERNS
Champaign County has had three alleged suicides at the jail facilities in the last six months. Because of this, Sheriff Walch has recognized that the mental health of inmates might be better attended if there was
increased communication between inmates and families. Sheriff Walch has since changed the visiting hours procedure to accommodate more visitors. The group CU-Citizens for Peace and Justice, which brought the request to his attention, are now asking him help make a more just phone policy a reality also.
The Sheriff has concerns that whoever provides the phone service be able to provide certain safety measures including ability to limit the duration of the call, ability to monitor who is called, and ability to block calls, plus a clear indication to the recipient of the call that it is from the county jail and a rate quote.
The advocacy group fully recognizes these needs and knows that this can be accomplished for reasonable rates. They can be accomplished if, that is, the rates to inmates are negotiated with the same priority as the kickback to the county is negotiated. In addition, less conventional approaches, such as offering one phone call per week per inmate at cost or a reduced rate, are possibilities that the administrator should be bringing before the board. They are offered in other facilities.
The Sheriff has expressed that his budget includes $38,000 for healthcare (including mental health) and approximated $9000 per month in medication and supplies. He expressed concern for the being able to continue to afford these services if $14,000 per month is removed from the budget.
CU Citizens for Peace and Justice acknowledges the difficult situation put on the Sheriff. Many factors contribute to the overcrowding at the county jail but one of the primary reasons is the backup in the Sixth Circuit Court. For those who can afford to pay bond, having your hearing continuously postponed can be a matter of inconvenience, but those who can’t are forced to stay at the jail awaiting their court date. This results in stays that are typically 6 – 8 months. County jails are not designed, in budget or practice, to accommodate such lengthy stays. This makes the Sheriff’s job extremely difficult.
This is the problem of the county and it points to a wider systemic problem that must be addressed, but we can not expect that the Sheriff will do it effortlessly, nor should we address it by, in effect, levying a tax on the families of those who can not bond themselves out of jail. These people are no more guilty of any crime than those who CAN pay their bond and await their court date in freedom. If the budget must be balanced by those who have committed a crime, it should be done so through increased fines for all of those who are guilty not just the families of the poor being held in jail awaiting their trial.
LIABILITY
In addition CU Citizens for Peace and Justice is urging members of the County Board to take the conditions the jail as they relate to the mental health of inmates as a matter of extreme urgency. We believe that this is a matter of common human decency and we urge the board to act accordingly. In addition we believe that in order to be fiscally responsible the county should take every measure to avoid a lawsuit. This means thorough investigation of all aspects of cause and remedy of the suicides. According to experts, most jail suicides result in litigation.
To recap the four earlier requests of CU Citizens for Peace and Justice, as they were reported at the December board meeting.
1) Insist upon an outside criminal investigation of all three suicides. Not only is the current investigation being done only by parties who have a vested interest in the jail (The Sheriff’s office and the Urbana City Police), reports of two of these suicides have not even been made public. Also, according to one of the victim's families there has not been a declaration of suicide by the coroner. It is up to the county board to insist that a truly independent agency investigate these deaths and report back, not to the County Sherrif but rather to the County Board.
2) Insist that an outside agency that specializes in jail suicides provide a study to assess the climate of the jail and other factors that may have resulted in the suicides. We find it encouraging that the Sheriff has made inquiries with the National Center for Institutional Alternatives along these lines. The County Board should ask the Sheriff for estimated dates and projected cost for these services.
3) Change in visiting procedure. The Sheriff (on a trial basis) has eliminated a maximum number of vistor’s allowed to be processed on a given day. In addition he is considering adding a Sunday visiting time as well.
4) Investigate options thoroughly and negotiation seriously for a phone contract that is fiscally responsible but not onerous for inmates' families.
CU Citizens for Peace and Justice is a multi-racial organization that works to educate the citizens on local policy, thereby building coalitions to effect governmental change.
Please sign their petition to address the need for the change in the jail phone policy at http://www.petitiononline.com/cucfpj/
Please attend the County Board Meeting where this will next be discussed. Thursday Jan. 20, 2005 7pm Brookens Administration Building, 1776 E. Washington Street, Urbana IL 61801 |
See also:
http://www.petitiononline.com/cucfpj/
http://www.ucimc.org/feature/display/22572/index.php
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