Coconino jail crowding may bring a tent city

Or it may bring a detox/treatment center, which would be far better for the community and long-term outcomes with drug/alcohol offenders. I really hope your sheriff doesn't follow Joe Arpaio's idiotic footsteps. He's just a clown, as far as law enforcement officers go - even other cops here think so. Arpaio just happens to be a very powerful, twisted and dangerous clown.

In any case, he and his policies are not to be emulated by more intelligent people. He's actually investigating the legitimacy of Barak Obama's birth certificate - a priority for his office, even though his people are brutalizing prisoners in the psychiatric wing of his jail, and the MCSO can't solve major crimes like murder because they're so busy chasing down immigrants who smuggled themselves over the border (and got jobs which are paying into - not stealing from - our social security accounts for us...).


So, good luck, Coconino County. Hope your sheriff is a smart man interested in evidence- based practice and goes for the detox center instead of a tent city.

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Crowding at jail hits crisis level

AZ Daily Sun
ERIC BETZ Sun Staff Reporter
Sunday, September 18, 2011 5:25 am

This week, the inmate population at the Coconino County Jail Detention Facility reached "crisis" levels for the third time in three years, according to jail managers.

The Coconino County Sheriff's Office says the surge in prisoners is making it harder to manage various groups of inmates in a way that prevents conflict and is reducing how much money the jail can make from renting beds to state and federal agencies.

And if the problem persists, the jail might have to erect a "tent city" next summer to handle the overflow, especially if it must house more state prisoners for free.

MORE CITE AND RELEASE

The sheriff's office sent a memo to local law enforcement, prosecutors and judges this week asking them to do whatever they can to help alleviate the problem.

That means citing and releasing offenders when safe to do so and expediting the judicial process.

The problem started earlier this summer as the local transient population rose with warming temperatures in Phoenix. Most of the increase in inmates has come from misdemeanor offenders booked on charges like disorderly conduct or simple assaults. Felony bookings have not increased.

"This is the first time we've seen a spike in population to this extent," said Coconino County Sheriff Bill Pribil. "In summer we usually see population increases because we have a lot more transients coming to Flagstaff, but we've seen an unusually high increase this summer."

INCOMPATIBLE POPULATIONS

The jail typically classifies inmates and separates them by gender, criminal sophistication, past history, mental illness and other characteristics. Mixing potentially incompatible populations can increase the risk of an assault on officers and other inmates.

To manage populations safely, the jail tries to maintain an 80 percent occupancy. It's currently above 90 percent.

The jail has been fortunate there hasn't been an increase in assaults so far, Pribil said. And the number of misdemeanor bookings usually falls off significantly as the winter approaches.

But the surge has implications for the jail's future, with legislation taking effect next summer that will require the county to house state inmates sentenced to less than a year behind bars.

$2 MILLION IN RENTALS AT RISK

Rather than pay the county to house these inmates, the state can force the county accept the inmates for free or force it to pay the state an unspecified daily fee not to take them.

The jail currently generates about $2 million annually by renting beds to agencies like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Office and the Arizona Department of Corrections.

On a typical night, the jail will rent about 100 of its nearly 600 beds. This summer they've only been able to rent around 75 beds per night.

"Right now the (jail) district is solvent and looks to be so for the near future," Pribil said. "This could be a double whammy. At this point we have the capacity to absorb the increase, but that ability has come at the expense of lost rental bed revenue."

TENT CITY EXAMINED

The sheriff's office is trying to stay ahead of the curve by brainstorming ways they can continue to make money and properly manage inmates even if the population continues to swell, or if the situation is exacerbated next summer.

Among the fixes being considered is a tent city similar to the one used by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Pribil says his officers have visited the facilities in the valley and they think it could work here if they needed it. The tent structures have already been picked out, as has a place to put them, but things like restrooms, showers and meal delivery would still have to be arranged. Managing such a facility would also require additional staff for the sheriff's office.

The tent housing could be operational within three weeks, if required, Pribil said.

But a tent city would only be possible here during the summer months.

Adding a full-service detention center in Page could alleviate some of the problem too, so that the county doesn't have to frequently transport short-term inmates.

REGIONAL DETOX CENTER MULLED

A more comprehensive solution might be a regional detox, treatment and rehabilitation center. Pribil recently visited a facility in the Gallup, N.M., area that he thinks might work well in northern Arizona.

That New Mexico center is a partnership between counties, the state and the Navajo Nation, and Pribil says there is discussion about trying to get state funding and a possible partnership with the Navajo Nation for a facility here too.

If they can build a consensus, legislation on such a center could come as soon as the next session.

"As managers we need to look forward and see what might happen and see what might be our response," Pribil said. "We have quite the braintrust here. Our people are students of this profession."

Eric Betz can be reached at ebetz@azdailysun.com or 556-2250.

Joe's Jail health care audit: Arpaio fails.

Many thanks to the AZ Republic for this report... Maybe if that $100 million of inmate programs' funds that Arpaio "misspent" had gone into improving services all along, some of the folks who have died there would have made it.

tent city, phoenix (April 5, 2011)



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County's jails still falling short on health care, audit finds

Millions already spent improving inmate services



by JJ Hensley and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez - Aug. 20, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic



Despite spending millions of dollars trying to rectify long-recognized problems, Maricopa County still falls short of its constitutionally mandated obligation to provide adequate health care to jail inmates, a court-appointed expert says.



Her report, filed earlier this month as part of a long-standing lawsuit over jail conditions, is a setback for the county Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff's Office. For years, they have pledged to improve a taxpayer-funded health-care system used in county jails, where about 7,500 inmates are housed.



For years, the county has paid millions of dollars in legal fees, settlements and jury verdicts to inmates and their families for death and injury claims.



With a budget of $55 million, the county's Correctional Health Services oversees the delivery of care to inmates housed in the county's five jails and Tent City.



Jail-reform advocates first sued the county in 1977 to force changes, claiming inmates received substandard care. The court in 1981 issued guidelines for the county to follow, and the court has revisited the matter several times.



The 33-page audit by Kathryn Burns concluded that although the CHS has made substantial advances in a number of areas, serious issues persist, particularly within the Mental Health Unit through which thousands of inmates move annually.



An estimated one-third of inmates are on psychotropic medications, which treat mental disorders, said Dawn Noggle, CHS director of mental health.



The county received positive marks for its investments and improvements in staff training, inmate-health assessments and follow-up appointments.



It has increased the number of mental-health employees at Fourth Avenue Jail. Portions of health screenings during bookings are now electronic to better manage patient information. More group treatment is offered.



However, the audit also found continuing problems with inadequate or incomplete admission assessments on medical charts; premature inmate releases from treatment; discharges of detainees without discussion among staff; lack of continuity of care with outpatient providers; and inconsistent and poor quality of treatment within the Mental Health Unit.



In another related audit, a separate court-appointed expert recently reviewed the CHS' medical services.



Lambert King's 34-page audit cited similar improvements and deficiencies, indicated the agency is understaffed and said that technical problems pose a "significant setback" in implementing a long-awaited electronic-records system to better track patient care.



The system is now "indefinitely delayed" because the county needs time to solve the technical problems involving integration of two separate technologies.



Some of those same problems were cited as reasons for the CHS' loss of accreditation in 2008, and a few even were noted as far back as 1977, when the lawsuit was first filed.



Experts say the loss of accreditation makes Maricopa County vulnerable in its defense of legal claims by current and former inmates and their families.



The accreditation comes from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, an independent agency that assesses medical and mental-health care in jails and prisons.

Shield against suits



That accreditation gives jails and prisons a national seal of approval that can help defend them against lawsuits over inadequate care.



Noggle acknowledged that problems persist but said correctional-health staffers are "making good progress" in screening detainees for health problems.



But the strengthened screening, she said, has led to a rise in the number of inmates deemed mentally ill, and that has increased demand on staff and resources. Noggle said the Mental Health Unit now admits 200 to 300 inmates a month.



"When you think about what we're doing on a daily basis, it's extraordinary," Noggle said. "We still have a ways to go, there's no doubt about it. It is an enormous challenge."



Burns' audit noted certain cases to highlight problems within the system. For example, it cited:



- Inadequate screening. An inmate previously had been booked into county jail nine times, and his records contained notes about his suicidal tendencies. The report alleges that staff did not notice those notes when the man was booked again last October. He committed suicide in jail in early December.



- Questionable treatment of inmates withdrawing from drugs and alcohol.



One Friday night last April, a pregnant woman who later tested positive for methamphetamine was booked into jail. Two days later, she demanded to go to the hospital. A nurse ordered Tylenol and sent the woman back to her housing unit. She gave birth to a baby boy in a bathroom of the Estrella Jail.



An inmate in the woman's housing unit said the woman "was in labor for several hours, but detention staff attributed her behavior to withdrawal and/or minimized her pain and discomfort and did not call or send her to medical (care) promptly."



Another inmate wrote that the woman was "in extreme pain and howling in the bathroom but not checked by detention staff."



- Unsanitary conditions. Despite periodic cleaning, cells in the Mental Health Unit had "floors, walls and windows appear grimy and stained with what appears to be dirt, feces and/or blood in some instances."



One mentally ill inmate refused to leave his cell for weeks. "When taken out for emergency treatment, his hair and feet were described as being matted with feces."



Members of the Board of Supervisors, ultimately charged with overseeing health care for inmates, said they were unaware of Burns' findings until contacted by a reporter. Staffers said they likely will be briefed on it next week.



Jim Bloom, chief of staff for Supervisor Andy Kunasek, concluded after reading the audit: "I think it's not so bad. In the past, I think we probably had a D. This report, I think, gets us closer to a C+ or a B-. We certainly have a ways to go, but we're committed to going there."



An Arizona Republic series in 2008 found the Board of Supervisors had failed to adequately respond to problems in the jail system despite having been told time and again through court documents, consultant reports and interviews that the CHS was providing inadequate care.



The CHS lost its accreditation as a result of the problems, and the county has paid millions of dollars in legal fees, settlements and jury verdicts to inmates and their families for death and injury claims against the county.



Burns' report was filed as part of the county's ongoing effort to get the Sheriff's Office and CHS out from under court-ordered oversight that began in 2008 after Judge Neil Wake ruled that conditions in the jails violated constitutional protections.



Since then, county lawyers and attorneys for the plaintiffs, who are affiliated with the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, have tried to develop a plan that would allow the jails to comply with Wake's ruling without the ongoing oversight.



Burns' audit tour was the first since that plan was put in place, and it was intended to gauge how far along the jails were on the path to compliance, said Eric Balaban, an attorney with the National Prison Project.



The plaintiffs' attorneys weren't expecting wholesale changes to be reflected in the jail system immediately, but they were hoping for fewer references to the same problems that have plagued the jails for decades, Balaban said.



"It's not unusual to take years to turn around a system that was essentially non-existent (at the time of Wake's ruling)," he said.



"We're concerned overall with the provision of health care. We're not going to get into ascribing bad motives to anyone involved here. We will continue to push the defendants as quickly as we possibly can to reach compliance with those markers."



The challenges are significant, Noggle said.



Budget-cutting at all levels of government has affected the CHS' funding.



Still, Noggle said, the CHS within the past year has added nine mental-health professionals, a mental-health supervisor, several psychiatric providers, two psychiatric nurses and six administrative workers dedicated to mental health.



And even as the county's jail population has declined in recent years, the number of inmates who are mentally ill or experiencing substance-abuse problems has increased, she said.



Many of those inmates have never, or only intermittently, sought medical help, making it more difficult to diagnose and treat them.



Dr. Jeffrey Metzner, a Colorado psychiatrist who evaluates mental-health systems across the nation, said local jails have become de facto mental-treatment centers.



"The number of mentally ill in jails has skyrocketed . . . and the courts have made it very clear that if you're going to incarcerate people, you've got to provide the treatment," he said.