BACDL Memorandum

Public Safety Coordinating Council

Added: 06/12/09 

1. The meeting was called to order by the Chairman, Dr. Henry Mack. Various reports were made. The areas of utmost immediate concern to BACDL are:

1. Current jail population report
2. Impact of in-custody treatment staff cuts [cutting jail programs]
3. Impact of closing the Stockade

These items will directly impact our representation of persons charged with criminal offenses in Broward County both before trial and after sentencing.

2. The Honorable Marcia Beach, Circuit Judge [Felony Drug Court], addressed the Council on two issues: (1) failure to fund programs; and (2) closing the Stockade. By the Sheriff closing the Stockade as a budget cut, this will cause the jail caps to automatically jump [as of August 1, 2009] way over the cap 88% cap requirement set by the U.S. District Court and the jail population has jumped to 98% or more. [the ratio is jail population divided by design jail capacity or # of jail beds.] Judge Beach has provided BACDL with a copy of the text of her prepared report to the County Commission. [This will not be reported here as this information will be made available to the membership shortly.] Of the 1229 jail beds that have been set aside for treatment of inmates, most are used by the County Court Judges who are most apt to sentence their cases to 364 days or 180 days with a special condition that the defendant enrolls in the ATTAC program. Upon successful completion of this program, the defendant's sentence is mitigated and he/she is able to be released from the jail.

3. Chairman, Dr. Mack, acknowledged that at this time we are facing a "real crisis." He called for the council to use "good judgment." He said, "If we travel down the paths that the Sheriff and County Commission are on, the costs for cutting these programs, the civil rights constituents will present civil disobedience like we have never seen before." He called upon both sides of this controversy to consider the impact of these cuts of more than $12 million on the public safety of Broward County.

4. The Honorable Victor Tobin, Chief Judge, told the Council that the Judiciary is monitoring the jail cap and indicated that the Judges have been trying hard to use alternative sentencing in order to help maintain the federal court imposed jail caps. He indicated that the impact of cuts in treatment will require the building of a new jail if these mitigation programs are cut in order to maintain the 88% cap.

5. Attorney Chris Clooney, federal criminal defense lawyer [who was appointed to monitor the jail overcrowding case the "Carruthers" many years ago by U.S. District Judge Hoeveler] will be litigating the violation of jail caps in U.S.D.C. Miami, addressed the Council. He indicated that once the jail population reaches 95% of jail bed capacity, the facility becomes "unmanageable." The consent decree hammered out years ago set the maximum cap of manageable jail population at 88%. As of today, with the Stockade still in operation, the jail population is at 87% of jail capacity [which is just under the cap]. With the Stockade closed after August 1, 2009, the jail population will most likely immediately rise to 97%. This is way over the permissible cap previously set by the federal court. This will automatically bring the federal court back into play and the County Commission will have to pay under the previous mandate. Further litigation will be undertaken to raise the per diem rate. When the mitigation sentences become affected by the discontinuance of jail programs, the cap will even go higher. It has been determined that anything over 88% jail population gives rise to very dangerous situations for inmates and for the staff as well. He will go to federal court as soon as the new budget cuts hit. He will not wait until next January. So the issue of jail population will be decided by the federal courts very quickly and the financial impact will go directly to the County Commission and the Sheriff.

6. Public Defender Howard Finkelstein told the Council that the loss of drug treatment programs will be enormous. His assistant PD's have all seen miracles that turned many, many people's lives around. He said, "A person who has successfully completed one of these jail programs is placed back out on the streets as an improved and far better person." "These drug and other programs in the jail are essential. We will all lose if we lose these programs," he said. The PD told the Council that if the programs are cut, his lawyers will continue all of their cases as long as possible in hopes that the State's cases will fall apart or that the programs will be reinstated.

7. BSO Sheriff Al Lamberti spoke on the impact of closing the Stockade. He said that currently the largest part of his budget is the Department of Detention and Community Control. Law Enforcement is the smaller part of the budget. For this reason the largest % of cuts must come from the Dept. of Detention. BSO had to cut $35 million; 37 workers had to be laid off; additional furloughs had to instituted and many other cuts had to be made. The County Commission now wants the Sheriff to cut an additional $53 million and the sheriff cannot do that. Sheriff Lamberti acknowledged that the arguments raised against cutting all these treatment programs are 100% valid, but cuts must be made if they are to meet the County Commission's budget requirements.

  Note to BACDL Members

A game plan is now being formulated for swaying the County Commission to find the funding in order to keep the jail programs. Apparently, this could be done by raising the tax rate by about $50 per household or, in the alternative, by using certain designated "reserves" that the County Commission has. This will have to be implemented very quickly as the programs are already cut and the budget cuts go into effect August 1, 2009. The County Commission will be holding two required public hearings on the Budget in September that will be on two consecutive Tuesdays at 5:00 p.m. [More information to follow.]

What can you do to make your voice heard as a member of BACDL? Watch for emails on Google groups that will provide official information on the programs that are to be affected. This will strengthen your own knowledge of the facts. We will provide information on how BACDL and its members can best rally to fight for these programs that we all know are essential in the lives of our clients.