Reprinted from Florida Today

Our view: State shirks duty

Sheriff right to pressure DCF on costs for keeping mentally ill inmates

In examing conditions at the Brevard jail, here's something else of concern:

The Florida Department of Children and Families has been dumping the costs for care of some seriously mentally ill inmates onto county jails, including those of a handful of prisoners at the local facility in Sharpes.

Florida law requires DCF to move inmates found incompetent to stand trial to state mental health facilities within 15 days.

But eight inmates at the Brevard jail have exceeded that limit because the state agency says no bed space is available, says Sheriff Jack Parker.

Similar situations are occurring throughout Florida, leaving inmates with extreme conditions such as paranoid schizophrenia warehoused in jails where they cannot receive proper treatment and are a danger to themselves and others.

Now jail officials in several counties are seeking remedies to force the state to fulfill its obligations, including lawsuits.

Brevard jail officials are considering their options and may take court action or start billing the state for the costs of keeping the prisoners more than 15 days, which Parker estimates at $100 a day per inmate.

If DCF is really short of beds, lasting remedies must come from state lawmakers.

But Parker is correct to take interim action so the rights of inmates with extreme mental illnesses can be protected, along with the safety of all at the jail.

Our view: Progress at the jail

Medical facility one step in battle against Brevard prison overcrowding

Last week, work began on the second phase of a long overdue jail expansion at the Brevard County Detention Center in Sharpes, with groundbreaking for a facility to house inmates with medical and mental health problems.

That's another big leap forward to alleviate problems from overcrowding at the jail, and one that's been long needed to boost security and ensure a humane level of care.

The addition will hold up to 288 inmates and be connected to the main jail so correctional staff can closely supervise the sick or troubled inmates it houses.

That design should help prevent a repeat of the spate of five attempted inmate suicides during two months in 2004-05, as well as possible inmate assaults.

Sheriff Jack Parker deserves credit for pushing the medical tent program as an integral part of broader expansion at the jail, as do county commissioners who gave thumbs up to the innovative idea he proposed after his election in 2004:

Reducing dangerous overcrowding without breaking the county budget by building four high-tech tents for low-risk inmates.

Those tents are now complete -- quick work in the post-2004 hurricanes' building environment of material shortages and construction delays.

True, the project's initial price tag of $15 million has risen to some $17 million, but that's still a bargain, considering what Brevard will get in return:

• Less risk of potentially expensive lawsuits over illegal jail conditions.
• Less risk of health dangers such as the spread of communicable disease that can result from extreme overcrowding.
• Cost savings of some $30 million to taxpayers because the tents are cheaper to build than traditional brick and mortar structures, according to Parker.

There's a fly in the ointment, however.

Combined, the tents and medical extension -- scheduled for completion in March 2008 -- will bring the jail's capacity to more than 1,700.

But the jail is currently housing 1,763 inmates, and numbers are projected to grow by 100 prisoners annually as Brevard's population increases.

That means the county is still just treading water on solving the jail's problems, despite recent progress.

Jail officials now brainstorming the next steps in the ongoing battle should keep pushing the envelope to find the most taxpayer-friendly solutions.

And the County Commission -- with two new members coming on board Nov. 21 -- should put a laser focus on future correctional needs.

Jail overcrowding imperils not just inmates and correctional officers, but the entire community, and Brevard is still behind the curve in addressing the issue.