Bulging At The Bars

Taxpayers will have to foot the bill

Nobody likes an ultimatum.

But county taxpayers may have no choice but to accept the prospect of funding a new jail.

The threat of federal court intervention or a state closure order - for not keeping the number of inmates within the jail's rated capacity - makes changes in the county's detention system unavoidable, county officials stress.

Still, it's not likely to sit well with many who would rather see the estimated $13 million it will take to build a new jail used on other needed county services. Likewise, county officials would like to see the tax revenues spent on other, more politically popular projects.

But county taxpayers will ultimately have to foot the bill for a new jail, County Administrator Ken Westmoreland said. Barring some unexpected source of revenue source, jail construction costs are likely to dip into local property tax coffers for the next 15 years.

All other options to address the county's critical jail needs have been ruled out leaving the prospect of a new county jail a virtual certainty.

County officials say they already are doing all that can be done to speed bond hearings and court proceedings to reduce the jail population and the corresponding need for space. Alternative sentences are also being employed to relieve the overburdened jail.

Plagued with physical problems, from bad plumbing to inadequate ventilation to an antiquated design, renovation and expansion of the existing 30-year-old jail building offers little in the way of meeting the county's future detention needs, Westmoreland says.

And population projections show a need to at least triple the size of the existing facility. A new jail becomes much more practical, both economically and in terms of security, than trying to restore or renovate the old jail, Westmoreland added.

Each night, mattresses are laid out on cell floors and table tops to provide enough space for inmates to sleep.  Plus, about 25 men and all the county's women inmates are taken to the Spartanburg City Jail.

But the overcrowding problems continue to grow.

Since the state set an 82-inmate capacity rating for the jail in 1980, it has complied with that standard.  The head of the state Department of Corrections' inspections division, Blake Taylor, said because Spartanburg County officials are doing their best with what they have, the state has not taken any action against the county.

He warns, however, that county officials must continue to show progress toward a long-term solution to the jail's problems, particularly overcrowding. "It's getting to the point where we should see something concrete relatively soon," Taylor said.

A committee of judicial, law enforcement and county officials and citizens already has recommended the County Council consider building a new jail.  Efforts to contract an architect have already started.

Former S.C. supreme Court Chief Justice Bruce Littlejohn, who heads the committee studying the county's jail and courthouse needs, said the county would be remiss in building a jail that does not make adequate provisions for growth and changes in jail standards.

A 1986 study by the National Institute of Corrections shows the county will need at least enough jail space to hold 225 to 250 inmates by the year 2010. Westmoreland, however, said that number could almost double if counties are required to hold more state prisoners under a proposal advocated by some state legislators and state prison officials.

But Littlejohn said plans for the new jail should not only consider space requirements. A number of court decisions, mostly at the federal level, have ruled many common jail practices unconstitutional as violating 8th Amendment guarantees against cruel and unusual punishment.

Minimum living space, adequate medical treatment, access to legal libraries, visitation rights and a number of other issues have all been addressed in court rulings over the past 20 years, Littlejohn said.

"It would be a mistake to build a jail without taking into consideration what the courts have done and have a tendency to do. "We could end up with a jail with an extremely limited usefulness," he said.

Littlejohn said he believes people will support the jail project once they become informed on the condition of the existing jail and the need for a new facility.

But swaying public opinion in support of a new jail is not always that easy.

"I don't care how you build your jail, someone will call it a 'country club,' " says Raymond Nelson, special consultant for the National Institute of Corrections.

And that perception becomes even more widespread with the new generation jails, which look more like a college dormitory than a traditional jail - a concept being embraced by local officials.  Void of bars and employing a new direct supervision concept which places officers in the living areas with inmates, the jail philosophy has been lauded by corrections officers, but slow to win acceptance among the general public.  Many consider the facilities too plush.

Balancing the public thirst for vengeance with federal court mandates protecting inmate rights is not always easy, Nelson acknowledges.

But there is another consideration county officials should weigh before making their ultimate plans, he said:  How the facility will affect the staff.

Staff members spend more time within the jail than anybody else and facility planners should consider their needs equally with those of the inmates, Nelson noted, adding workers in the new generation jails have reported higher morale and lower job turnover than those working in traditional jails.

The final decision on whether to build a jail is still up to the County Council - but they too face an ultimatum.

Something has to be done to address the county's jail problems.  Many county leaders have unofficially indicated they are leaning toward the construction of a new direct supervision jail on the site of the County Courthouse parking lot.

An architect for the project is expected to be named this summer, and construction should be completed within the next three years.

"People want their laws enforced, but corrections have always been the stepchild of the criminal justice system," summed up Friedrich Wenz, associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina at Spartanburg.  "It's the last place people want to spend their tax dollars."

But money to run the jails has to come from somewhere, he said.  "You have to have someplace to put those people who are violent and fail to conform with the rules of society."