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Hidden with code "Submitted as Feature" |
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News :: Prisons |
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Judge Difanis Excludes Champaign County Board From Jail Issues Team, Board to Hold Series of Study Sessions Instead |
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by Kimberlie Kranich
Email: kakranich (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified!) |
10 Aug 2005
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Champaign County has two jails and some officials would like just one. These officials suggest closing the jail built in downtown Urbana in 1980 and expanding the size of the satellite jail built in 1996 to expand the total available jail space. Talk of a possible jail expansion has sparked the creation of two official but separate jail fact finding teams while raising fears among some citizen activists that as physical jail size increases, so will the number of people incarcerated, particularly black males. |
“I am not inclined to support a jail that is going to incarcerate more African American males,” said community activist Bernell Dixon at a Wednesday meeting of concerned citizens. “There needs to be more crime prevention and less incarceration.”
One jail fact-gathering team is being directed by Champaign County Judge Thomas Difanis of the sixth judicial circuit court. His team consists of State’s Attorney, Julia Rietz; first assistant State’s Attorney Steve Ziegler; County Administrators Debra Busey and Denny Inman; Courts Administrator Roger Holland; Sheriff Dan Walsh; Captain Jim Young of the Sheriff’s office; Public Defender Randy Rosenbaum, Courts Administrator Roger Holland, and Director of Court Services, Joe Gordon. Meetings with the team assembled by Judge Difanis are closed to the public.
“I think there should be public input but the method Judge Difanis used excludes public participation,” Mr. Dixon said. “The fact that there are no African Americans on the judge’s committee is unfair to the citizens of Champaign County.”
Judge Difanis declined comment for this story.
Originally, County Board members were to be included as part of the Judge’s team. This according to a July 24 email from County Board Chair Barbara Wysocki to Democratic caucus members that stated, “I said to Judge Difanis that certainly there needs to be county board members involved and he agreed, leaving it up to us to identify who those individuals would be, how many, and the proportion per party.”
But something changed between the July 24 email sent by Ms. Wysocki and an August 1 letter from Judge Difanis to Steve Beckett, chair of the county facilities committee and Tom Betz, chair of the policy committee. The letter refers to “various justice-related departments” having met to “discuss issues and concerns regarding the current status of the Champaign County correctional facilities…The meetings will be used to gather and analyze information regarding the current status of jail facilities…The meetings will then produce a report detailing the findings I will pass on the County Board for review and discussion.”
Regarding the exclusion of County Board members from the committee led by Judge Difanis, Mr. Beckett said, “I can’t make Judge Difanis do anything.”
Ms. Wysocki seemed to attribute the lack of board representation on Judge Difanis’ team to the board itself.
“In the case of the Democrats, there were more than three people who expressed a desire to serve on this (the Judge’s) committee and it was very difficult for the Democratic caucus to narrow the choices to three,” Wysocki said. “In the case of the Republicans, it was difficult to even identify two people. I do recognize how sensitive this issue is to some people and I heard from some that all three of the Democratic members should be African Americans and I respect that but the fact is there are four African Americans in our caucus and I was not going to put myself in the position of leaving one out.”
Trish Avery, one of the four African American County Board members, said she “disagrees with the process” and “fought very hard to get on that team (the Judge’s team).”
So the Champaign County Board will now conduct its own jail fact-finding sessions in study sessions in September, October and November, according to Ms. Wysocki. The board is a group of 27 elected officials. Board and board committee meetings are open to the public.
“I am hoping that these two tracks (the Judge’s team and the County Board) will converge but I can’t say that with certainty,” Ms. Wysocki said.
“It’s ridiculous for two groups to study the same issue,” Ms. Avery said.
“To go to this study session format allows all four African Americans and anyone else to be involved,” Ms. Wysocki said. “It’s a way to open the process even wider than anyone had imagined in the last two months.”
With regard to the proposed study session, Ms. Avery said, “I’m pleased to hear that at least groups outside the circuit court and State’s Attorneys office can share their input. I’m glad we’re rethinking how to include the public in the discussion.”
A presentation by Champaign County Sheriff Dan Walsh and County Administrator Denny Inman at the June facilities committee of the County Board seems to have sparked the call for more public discussion of jail-related issues. The issues at stake vary depending on who you talk to.
According to a June 16 memo written by Sheriff Walsh and presented to members of the facilities committee of the County Board, “Our numbers (jail population) are growing and will likely continue to grow.”
Mr. Walsh cited three main factors.
“1. Statutory minimum sentences especially for repeat offenders.
2. Meth related crimes that did not exist in our county four years ago.
3. The police are doing a better job.”
According to the Sheriff’s figures, the downtown jail has 131 housing beds and the satellite jail has 153 housing beds. With 29 overflow beds at the satellite facility, there are a total of 313 available beds for housing inmates.
Figures presented in the Sheriff’s report show an average jail population of between 274 and 287 inmates between January and June 2005.
CHIPS, or the Comprehensive Home Incarceration Program, confines another 40-50 people at home instead of jail.
“We brought the issue of the appropriateness of the jail facility to the county board to try to come up with the solution to what we see is a very serious problem of an overcrowded inappropriate facility at the downtown jail,” said Champaign county State’s Attorney Julia Rietz.
“We built the satellite jail specially to be added on to and we need to start making plans to do that, to close down the downtown jail and add on to the satellite jail. There are some people who think that we are going to add on to what we already have. We have two buildings, one of which is old. And one of which is new and modern and appropriate and we shouldn’t be housing half our inmates in an inappropriate facility and half in a modern appropriate facility.”
In response to Ms. Rietz’s comment, Ms. Wysocki said, “I really want to remain open to any number of possibilities regarding the relationship of the facility to the population that we currently serve and might anticipate serving in the next 10, 15 to 20 years. I really don’t want to comment on what the solution might be at this point. It is too early for me.”
“It doesn’t make sense to have two jails,” Mr. Beckett said. “There should be one jail.”
Taxpayers will have a say as well since most of the funding for any jail expansion would have to be paid for by tax dollars.
Another issue surrounding the jail population is the number of people sitting in jail who have not been convicted of a crime. The overwhelming majority of people in jail are not serving sentences, they are awaiting trial.
“Many of those individuals are sitting there because they are poor,” Ms. Avery said. “They sit there and they cost taxpayers money because they can’t come up with $100 bail money to get out of jail.”
Community activist Esther Patt agrees. “We need to change the system of people being incarcerated prior to being convicted simply because they are too low income to afford bail.”
For example, Ms. Patt cites the case of a 19 year old woman who lives with her five-month old baby and aunt at Dorsey Homes. She was arrested for shoplifting a dress and purse valued at $34.98 from Gordman’s. Her bond was set at $1,000 and she could not afford the $100 bail to get out. On June 10, she had already been in jail for 17 days.
Other people are in jail because they cannot afford to make bail for charges that include obstruction of justice, theft under $300, and driving with a revoked or suspended license.
But Ms. Rietz takes issue with these examples. She says most people in jail awaiting trial are drug dealers, murders and violent offenders.
Ms. Rietz explained that bond is set based on a person’s prior criminal history, history of appearances in court, the circumstances of the offense, whether they pose a risk to society, and whether they have multiple offenses and if have warrants outstanding in other counties.
Even if a person has been convicted of a previous crime and has served her or his sentence, that person’s criminal history is one factor in determining the bond amount.
“Some people are in custody on what you might consider a low bond that they can’t make or what some people characterize as a non-violent offense and have a significant history of failing to appear in court,” Ms. Rietz said. “The court system can’t work if people don’t show up.”
“The public needs to ask the judges, the State’s Attorney and the Sheriff how many people are in jail waiting trial because they can’t make bail?” Ms. Patt said. “And are they a threat to the public? Are they a flight risk or are they just poor?”
Another jail issue on many people’s mind is the mental health of inmates. A national study of the US prison and jail population found that 15 percent of inmates are mentally ill. According to Sheriff Walsh, about 10 percent of Champaign County’s inmates are taking anti-depressants or other psychotropic medications.
Three inmates have committed suicide at the two jails. Joseph Beavers, 37, of Urbana hanged himself on June 26. Marcus Edwards, 18, of Champaign hanged himself on July 11. Terrell Layfield, 23, of Champaign hanged himself on Dec. 4.
“I feel strongly about the mental health needs in this community and the possibility that individuals who need mental health care are getting in our jails,” said County Board member Deb Feinen. “I would like to see steps to get these folks into treatment. Until we have a broader based discussion about those issues, I’m not ready to expand the jail.”
The County Board’s jail study sessions as currently envisioned by Ms. Wysocki will be broken into three areas.
The September session will give Board members the opportunity to visit both jail facilities and might include the public, although members of the public are already able to request a tour of both jail facilities. “This is a time to focus in on the physical nature of the facilities we operate,” Ms. Wysocki said.
The October session would focus on getting information regarding services provided to inmates. “I think Board members would like to know how many of these services meet minimal standards and to what extend they exceed them,” Ms. Wysocki said.
The December session will focus on the demographics of the jail population such as the number of individuals incarcerated, the offenses they are in for, and the disposition of cases.
“I am going to ask the County Board members to give me a list of questions they have about the current facilities we operate. What do they want to know about the jail?” Wysocki said.
When asked if the public could send their questions to the Board, Ms. Wysoki said, “Yes.” Ms. Wysoki's e-mail is bwysocki (at) co.champaign.il.us and her office phone is 384-3772.
“Once I get the plan more concrete, I want to send letters to key organizations in the community who have shown some interest in jail issues and invite them to attend our study sessions,” Ms. Wysocki said. “I will ask county board members for their suggestions, too.”
Ms. Wysocki intends to invite representatives from the Urban League, the League of Women Voters, Restoration Urban Ministries, Mental Health, CU Citizens for Peace and Justice, the Prairie Center and local police chiefs.
The next County Board meeting will take place at 7pm on Thursday, August 18 at the Brookens Administrative Center in Urbana.
This is the second in a series of articles about Champaign County jail issues. The previous article can be viewed at: http://www.ucimc.org/feature/display/88039/index.php |
This work is in the public domain |
