Jackson County "Jail" Special District - May 7, 2019

Sheriff Sickler and Jackson County brought forward a proposal to create a Jackson County Local Correctional Facility Service District that would then ask local voters to approve an ongoing tax to fund expansion of the jail from 300 beds to at least 750 beds. In order for a service district to be created, the communities within Jackson County need to agree to be part of that district. That approval comes from city councils in the individual cities and towns within the county. Approval to add Ashland to the service district was the request from the sheriff and the county. If approved by all communities within the county, it would go before the voters in November of 2019.

There is no doubt we have an overcrowding problem at our jail. Each year the Sheriff’s Department has to release thousands of inmates early because of overcrowding.  Those early releases reduce the deterrent effect of the jail. Early releases also create a problem for people who enter the jail due to mental health issues or addiction because they are often released before they can be stabilized and offered assistance.

Because of the failure of our health care system to address mental health issues and addiction (which are often closely linked), jails across the country are where people suffering from those problems end up when their mental illness or addiction causes them to cross the line into criminality. The new jail proposal takes some important steps to address the addiction and mental health issues of the people who are arriving as inmates. However, it is not clear how the funding for those services will be protected the next time budget cuts need to be made. More detail and some level of protection for these services need to be built into the process.

As the proposal was worded coming to the Ashland City Council, there was no effort to address upstream issues, which we know are major causes of the type of criminality that lands people in jail. Intervention is the most expensive, and least likely to be successful, when the person who needs the intervention arrives at the steps of the jail as a full grown adult. It is far more cost effective and likely to succeed when interventions can happen in the lives of children and young adults who are experiencing trauma and then acting out in school and getting suspended. These elements need to be part of the plan.

Normally I would be fine simply allowing the citizens of Ashland to vote on a service district like this request from the County. But the problems we are facing in our criminal justice and health systems are simply too great to allow ourselves to miss an opportunity to look at the entire system and identify the points where targeted intervention can change outcomes for people before they do something serious enough to land in jail. We need to look at this problem comprehensively.

I voted no on this issue because I want to see that larger systemic look that will hopefully bring us the most cost-effective and generally successful early intervention program as well as a modern jail facility that can appropriately address the mental health issues and addiction that are fueling much of our local crime.

After the vote I went to visit Commissioner Strosser and Sheriff Sickler. I offered to work with them through an advisory committee process that the sheriff was developing. As I write this in mid-August, the advisory committee has had two meetings and several more are planned to help us understand the capacity issues of the old jail and identify other components that need to be part of the package. I look forward to this issue being brought back in front of the Council once it has been revised through the input of the advisory committee.