Pima County plans to reduce prison population
Published on
In an opinion editorial for Arizona Capitol Times, Kurt Altman, Arizona state director for Right on Crime, compares Phoenix to Tucson by size and asking "Isn’t bigger always better?"
"Phoenix is the heart of Maricopa County, one of the biggest counties in the nation — with a jail to match" he writes. "According to ASU’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy, at its peak, Maricopa County Jail housed almost 10,000 inmates a day in 2006. By 2015, that leveled off, but still hovered near 8,000 a day. I bet Tucson, the heart of Pima County, cannot top that.
"As it turns out, Pima County is trying hard not to top those numbers. Their leaders realize that high county jail populations cost significant amounts of taxpayer money to maintain with little correlation to public safety.
"In 2015, Pima County applied for a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge Grant...with the aim of safely reducing local jail populations, saving taxpayer money, and reinvesting those savings in alternatives that increase public safety, while keeping only those who need to be jailed within the barbed wire. Prior to receiving the grant, 80 percent of housed Pima County Jail inmates were pre-trial — meaning they had been charged, but not convicted of a criminal offense.
"In my 23 years as a criminal attorney, both a long-time prosecutor and defense attorney, I’ve seen this scenario hundreds of times. ...misdemeanor type offenses are not the crimes that should be filling our jails. Pima County agrees.
"Part of the MacArthur grant money is being directed toward solving (such) problems. The goal is to reduce the Pima County average daily jail populations by 26 percent by 2019. In 2014, Pima County taxpayers housed 2,136 inmates a day. If successful, that number will fall by 562 individuals — to 1,574 — which equals roughly $2 million a year in savings. These are simple, pragmatic ideas that can significantly reduce unnecessary jail costs without jeopardizing public safety.
"Pima County’s strategies have only recently been implemented. Only time will tell if they work."While Phoenix may be bigger," he concluded, "it turns out bigger is not always better, especially when talking about jail populations. The real winners will likely be the taxpayers of Tucson and Pima County because their leaders realize less is more."