Jail overcrowding emergency declared

Presque Isle County sheriff Terry Flewelling has declared a “jail overcrowding state of emergency” with an inmate population well above its design capacity level of 23. The overcrowding emergency occurs when the inmate population is at design capacity for seven consecutive days. Jail administrator Bob Paschke said that the jail was at or above capacity 213 of 366 days in 2004, but never for an entire week.

There were 27 inmates housed at the county jail as of Wednesday morning when the declaration was made. After Circuit Court on Monday, the jail population reached 31, before some inmates were released, Paschke said. When an overcrowding emergency occurs, the sheriff must notify chief Circuit Judge Scott Pavlich, District Judge Harold Johnson, the chairman of the county board, law enforcement personnel, and the county prosecutor.

AT THE February 9 meeting of the Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners, chairman Allan Bruder, who already had been notified of the pending situation, suggested that prisoners be housed in neighboring counties until the capacity gets below 90 percent. That could be a problem, as news reports indicate a similar problem with expanding jail populations in Alpena and Cheboygan counties. Bruder said the Montmorency County jail in Atlanta might be another option. Cost is another factor, especially with already strapped budgets. Flewelling said it would cost up to $35 per day to house a prisoner in adjacent county jails. There also may be a need to “find more room for cells” in the PI county jail, Bruder said, suggesting a possible expansion or renovation.

FLEWELLING ISN’T sure whether the overcrowding is a result of judges getting tougher on criminals, but did say the winter months usually are a problem time of year. “I’m not overly concerned,” said prosecutor Don McLennan. “This is the first time we have reached this point. I think we are experiencing a bubble and hopefully the numbers will come down.” The overcrowding situation ends when the sheriff certifies that the jail population has been reduced to the prescribed level, being 90 percent of the rated design capacity.

The prisoner population of the jail may be reduced by the authorities notified, and other judges, acting within the scope of their authority, by: Bail reduction; release on recognizance, or conditional release; pre-trial diversion by the prosecutor; use of probation, fines, community service, restitution, and delayed sentence; use of work-release, community programs, and other alternative housing arrangements; if the programs and housing arrangements are authorized by law.

IF, WITHIN 14 days from the declaration of the overcrowding state of emergency, the

jail population has not been reduced to 90 percent, the sheriff must provide Pavlich with the information and he’ll classify the inmates into two groups: those, who if released, would present a high risk to public safety, and those who would not present a high risk to public safety. “If it’s necessary to release prisoners because of overcrowding, then there’s a priority by which that goes,” said McLennan. Prisoners who would not receive early release would include those prisoners under sentence for any type of assault crime, controlled substance offense, weapons offense, or sex crime.

“In practice, that means any prisoners who did receive that sort of relief would be limited to the prisoners who had committed property type offenses.”