Jail numbers drop to a four-year low

Population has fallen to the 80s and even the 70s in recent weeks

An interesting thing happened after a team of professionals came to evaluate the Flathead County jail: Inmate numbers have fallen to the lowest point they have been in at least four years.

The jail population has been a topic of discussion recently as it has, at times, reached the breaking point of more than 100 inmates.

The jail was built for 64 prisoners.

As a result, the jail has sometimes been too full to receive new prisoners. Sheriff Jim Dupont and his staff have wondered if it's time to add on to the facility - not just more bed space, but expanded infrastructure for things such as laundry and food services.

Jail commander Kathy Frame invited the National Institute of Corrections to review the jail in January. Its free study involved not just the jail itself, but also the courts and other agencies that impact the jail.

The evaluation found that 99 percent of the people in the jail are awaiting trial and had not been convicted of anything. Only 1 percent of the inmates were actually serving sentences. There were virtually no

prisoners accused or convicted of misdemeanors being held in the jail.

"I've never seen anything like this," said institute representative Robert Aguirre of Michigan.

He and evaluator Fran Zandi of Denver talked to local officials and agencies about the imbalance during their two-day study.

Since then, the prisoner population has fallen to the 80s and even the 70s last week.

That thwarted the hopes of one woman, Erran Bradley, who asked the court to modify her 30-day jail sentence for felony theft. She was ordered to serve her sentence by Dec. 31, 2005, but the jail was too full to take her before the end of the year.

Now that the jail population is down, Bradley is serving her sentence.

"I actually have misdemeanant people" in jail, Frame said on Wednesday.

"I don't have an answer" about what changed, she said, although simple awareness about the crowding issue may have helped the problem.

She suspects the lower population is due in part to the end of a jury term when prisoners are either sent to the Department of Corrections or are freed as their cases are decided.

March also is historically the off-season for crime in the Flathead, she said.

But even so, the reduction of prisoners has been surprising.

"We'll hold our breath and see if this an anomaly," Frame said. "What happens now? I don't know."

She believes, though, that there are steps the county should take now to "keep the population from ballooning again."

She agrees with Aguirre's caution against a rush to construction.

"The perception that systemic problems will be solved through the addition of more jail beds is like a drug addiction," he wrote in a report to the county. Adding more jail space doesn't satisfy the need, because soon those beds will be filled, too.

Instead, the county should scrutinize how the justice system is working, including how people are released before their trials and how quickly they are processed through the courts.

Frame supports establishment of separate housing for alcohol-related crimes. People convicted of crimes involving alcohol would live in a facility, receive counseling and be released to continue working at their jobs.

"It wouldn't have to be that large," Frame said. She imagines a privately run facility that could hold 20 to 25 people.

"Every other community has it."

That fits into the institute evaluators' suggestion that Flathead County increase sanction options, short of jail.

Frame likes Kalispell Municipal Judge Heidi Ulbricht's method of using a private collection agency for people who don't pay fines, rather than jailing those people.

Most important to Frame, though, would be a probation officer for misdemeanor offenders. That person would keep tabs on offenders, make sure they abide by court conditions, and allow them to keep their jobs and pay their fines.

"If I could have one single thing, that would be it," she said.

Formation of a criminal justice council is under way. That will unite judges, prosecutors, the sheriff, and others in interacting and streamlining the system.

Aguirre recommended a pretrial release program that would carefully review whether a defendant is a good risk to remain out of jail pending a trial.

Dupont said the review by the institute was valuable.

"It put it in black and white," he said. "You know what's going on," but actually compiling data on the jail's population let everyone take a meaningful look at how the system works.

Frame, who has extensive training by the institute, said she is happy with the evaluation.

Aguirre and Zandi said they were impressed with how clean and well-managed the jail is.

"We're doing the right kind of job for the sheriff and the county," Frame said.

That should be reassuring to residents, too, as some counties face lawsuits over the management or conditions of their jail.

"We don't want the taxpayers to pay because the jail doesn't care," she said.

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com