Spokane7
65°
April 29, 2011 in City
Speakers: Bigger jail may not be needed
Reclassifying crimes saves money, they say
A Seattle University law professor told Spokane’s Rotary Club 21 on Thursday that Spokane County’s new jail needs to be only as big as its legal policies.
Robert Boruchowitz told the Rotarians that the current $200 million plan for a new jail is not needed if local prosecutors and law enforcement embrace treatment alternatives.
“Diverting and reclassifying misdemeanors can save a billion dollars a year,” Boruchowitz said, referring to national figures.
In 2009, Spokane County District Court handled about 8,000 misdemeanors, and about 10,800 cases went through Spokane Municipal Court, all misdemeanors.
Of the suspects going to jail, some 22 percent are charged with misdemeanors such as criminal trespassing, alcohol offenses, prostitution and non-alcohol-related driving offenses.
“In my opinion, all those cases can be diverted rather than putting them in jail,” Boruchowitz said.
Local attorney Breean Beggs introduced Boruchowitz and said that nationally about 70 percent of all cases go through a treatment or diversion program rather than to jail. However, that number is about 30 percent in Spokane County.
“The number of beds you need (in the jail) has little to do with your crime rate or population,” Beggs said. “It has to do with your policies.”
Studies have also shown that not only are diversion programs cheaper for taxpayers, people who complete them are less likely to re-offend than people who are warehoused in jail, Beggs said.
Boruchowitz said his study of Spokane County’s jail population also showed an alarmingly high percentage of black inmates. They made up about 11 percent of the jail population but only 1.9 percent of the county’s population.
“That racial disproportionality is significant,” he said.
The jail averages five inmates a day for possession of marijuana, which costs the county about $228,000 a year, the law professor said. That doesn’t include the $1,000 to $2,000 cost per case to prosecute those suspects, he said.
Spokane County commissioners a month ago put on hold a plan to seek voter approval for a $199.5 million project that would build a 752-bed replacement for the Geiger Corrections Center and a 192-bed community corrections center, and renovate the Spokane County Jail back to its original 462 beds – for a total of 1,406 beds.
Boruchowitz praised Spokane City Prosecutor Mary Muramatsu for no longer treating driving with a suspended license as a crime. Instead, those cases are fined like a regular traffic ticket. As a result of that one move, the number of cases that need public defenders has been reduced, as have the number of people jailed on that charge and the number of failure-to-appear warrants issued.
“There is truly a movement within the state and nationally for alternatives,” Boruchowitz said.
1992 murder trial begins against sex offender 
ChefGus/ John Olsen on April 29 at 5:44 a.m.
Well… sign me on to that movement. We know treatment and access to basic support services such as food and shelter and medical care work…. The Commissioners may finally be catching on… but there is money to be made so it may take a while for them to realize that NO new jail will be approved without proper attention to diversion and treatment for the drug addicted and alcoholic and mentally ill in our midst. John
karl2002 on April 29 at 6:39 a.m.
Is shopping at Huppins as annoying as the pop-up ads on every page?
DickAdams on April 29 at 9:49 a.m.
What`s the matter with tents?
DickAdams on April 29 at 9:50 a.m.
Huppins would be the last place I`d shop. nuf said.
arroyoribera on April 30 at 2:44 p.m.
My friend ChefGus/John, Thanks for your comment. You are so right. There is indeed money to made in certain circles by the revolving door of incarceration. And there is healing and recovery and life and joy to be had on the treatment and rehabilitation side. Indeed there is money to be made there also. But the human outcome is what needs to be measured and appreciated. The facts are there as Robert Boruchowitz and Breann Beggs make clear, facts borne out in other cities around the country. Perhaps it is Spokane’s geographical isolation and its conservative legacy that makes it late to the game in so many aspects of social reform. The collapse of the US empire abroad (though the beast continues to thrash and wail and do damage with its tail) and the severely torn socio-economic fabric at home (just witness the streets not to mention the lies and distortions on the news) present all of us with an opportunity to focus on human and community needs and values. The status quo of money and power will seek to win this battle but we all need to engage, wherever we can and however we are able. Spokane’s dysfunctional criminal justice system, from its violent police department to its disproportionate incarceration of people of color, has touched so many families and lives that it is a natural point of focus for the community. In human, moral and economic terms the possible savings and gains to be had by reform are enormous. See www.nonewjails.com