Pubdate: Wed, 22 May 2002 Source: Tampa Tribune (FL) Section: Metro, page 1 Copyright: 2002, The Tribune Co. Contact: http://www.tampatrib.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446 Author: Keith Morelli of the Tribune Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) COUNTY JAILS IN A REAL JAM Record Number of Prisoners Crowd Jails In Hillsborough County, Leaving Officials In A Crunch TAMPA - The numbers at the Hillsborough County jails this week represent a personal best, but they're not the type jail administrators beam over. Inmates. Lots of them. More then ever before. Monday night, the Hillsborough system of three jails booked in its 3,774th prisoner. That's the most people behind bars at a single time. Sheriff's Capt. Curtis Flowers can't explain the spike. "The population continues to increase," he said, "and all of the rooms at the inn are filled. We're perplexed by it." Flowers said cells that usually hold one inmate now have an extra bunk. More inmates mean more linens and more meals. It also means more people visiting, and accommodations have to be made for that. "We can't just put up a 'no vacancy' sign out front," he said. "We have to stay open." Sheriff's Col. David Parrish has been in charge of the jails for the past 21 years. He's also at a loss. "We can't attribute it to anything," he said of the record number of inmates. "It's just up everywhere." The operating capacity of the county jails is 3,036 inmates, he said, including 200 federal prisoners housed at the Morgan Street Jail. The county has a contract with the federal government to house that many federal inmates there. If not for that contract, the Morgan Street lockup would have been closed, Parrish said, so the beds allocated for federal prisoners are not putting a crunch on county inmate space. There's no immediate fix in sight, he said. Construction is approved at the Falkenburg Road Jail that will increase capacity by about 500 beds this fall, but that won't be completed in time to relieve the current crunch. The inmate population tends to decrease near the end of the year, usually beginning in September, Parrish said. That won't help during the next couple of months, either. It could be a long, hot summer for those incarcerated and for those watching them, Parrish said. "We have no control over what comes at us," he said. "This is the highest we have ever had." In fact, the record has been broken four times within the past week. Six hundred stackable cots are in use to accommodate the overflow of inmates, and corrections officers watch as pods designed 10 years ago for 48 prisoners now hold twice that. "The biggest problem is finding enough people to work overtime, and the money to pay them," Parrish said. The jails have a $1.7 million contingency fund that covers overtime. Parrish said that until recently, overtime spending has been "right on target." But with the spike in inmate population during the past week, "We are overspending a bit right now." If the high population continues, overtime funding might encounter a problem later this summer. The fiscal year ends Sept. 30. Part of the surge in prisoners might have to do with prison inmates returning to Hillsborough County for resentencing hearings. An appellate court ruling two years ago gave imprisoned felons an opportunity to be resentenced under new guidelines. Many have taken advantage of that ruling and, to do that, they have to be transported from their prison cells to the jails in the counties where they were originally sentenced. Parrish said that as of Tuesday afternoon, 155 state prison inmates were in the Hillsborough lockup awaiting court hearings. That's twice as many as the average, he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Ariel