Has the St. Landry Parish jail become too small?
Can parish government continue to pay the rising costs of inmate housing?
Those are two questions that are now concerning parish officials as Sheriff Bobby Guidroz, the District Attorney’s Office, four state district judges and the parish council explore options that have arisen recently in connection with the issue of parish-wide incarceration.
The current parish jail, completed in 1979, was constructed to hold 234 prisoners. At that time, Guidroz says, the size of the facility was sufficient.
Now with St. Landry’s population at about 80,000, Guidroz said the jail should optimally provide room for 500 prisoners, but that option requires more money.
MORE:City jail closure leaves parish in 'financially precarious position'
Guidroz is quick to maintain that he is not advocating a parish-wide bond issue to build a larger jail facility or expand the size of the current one located in downtown Opelousas.
“Although I think 500 is a good number, we are working with all the parties that are connected to the criminal justice system to make the space that we have work for us on a daily basis,” Guidroz said during a telephone interview.
Normally, the parish jail is at its capacity, Guidroz said. That situation has led to an outsourcing procedure in which the Sheriff’s Department has been transferring prisoners charged with state offenses to other parishes where their jails have more space.
RELATED:City Jail closure raises questions about prisoner costs
On Monday, parish jail assistant warden Meghan Broussard said35 prisoners charged with alleged crimes committed in St. Landry were in LaSalle Parish. Another 12 had been moved to Avoyelles Parish and onewas incarcerated in Catahoula Parish Jail.
In addition, the Eunice City Jail has about 20 parish prisoners. The Eunice Jail was built to accommodate about 40 inmates.
Guidroz said among the 230 prisoners in the jail on Monday 15 were sent to St. Landry by the Department of Corrections. For accommodating these state prisoners, the sheriff is paid $24.39 per day, Guidroz said.
RELATED:Should city handle costs for parish jail inmates?
Parish council member Harold Taylor said that parish government is responsible, according to state law, for paying the daily inmate costs that range from $17 to $24 per prisoner.
“We’ve budgeted $50,000 this year for that expense. Right now it looks like we’re going to spend about $550,000. If we don’t get our hands around this, it’s eventually going to wipe us out,” said Taylor, who met with Guidroz on Monday and toured the parish jail with council member Ken Marks.
During a June meeting with the parish council, Opelousas city attorney Travis Broussard said the current size of the parish jail is not large enough to accommodate all the persons charged with offenses.
Broussard indicated at the meeting that other parishes the size of St. Landry or even smaller have larger jails.
“I concur with the opinion of the counselor from Opelousas,” Guidroz said. "Part of the problem at one time lay with the indigent defenders who represent the prisoners. The lawyers were not coming up to the jail fast enough to see their clients who did not have enough money to bond out.
“In some cases we have had defendants in our parish jail who were there longer than what their sentences would have been.We were not moving them in and out of the jail fast enough, either with plea deals or getting them to court," he added. "We discussed the issue with Edward Lopez, who is in charge of the indigent defenders in the parish, and things have been moving a little faster."
Taylor said there is one parish inmate who has been at the jail for more than 800 days.
Charles Cravins, chief administrative officer for the DA’s office, said he has begun to research jail sizes in other parishes. St. Landry’s parish jail, Cravins has concluded, is probably too small.
“I’ve talked with St. Martin Parish, which has fewer residents, and the jail there is about the size of ours. Iberia Parish, which is also about the size of St. Landry in terms of population, has a jail that holds 500,” he said.
Cravins said the DA’s office reviews pending trial cases at least once monthly in order to expedite the disposition of inmates.
Guidroz has some cost-cutting suggestions, like briefly housing those charged with traffic violations and non-violent offenses at the parish government-operated Delta Grand Theatre, which is adjacent to the parish jail.
“It would be in a dormitory-style arrangement until they are brought before a judge and are either put in the jail or bonded out,” said Guidroz.
Guidroz said he is trying to save parish government money by providing ankle bracelets for juvenile offenders at a cost of $50 each. Adult offenders are being fitted more often now with ankle bracelets that cost $10 and are paid by the defendant, Guidroz said.
