Jailing Homeless Expensive only in FloridDAH

So I came across this in the paper,and I sat back and wondered what is going on in this State when they focus on Arresting the homeless, and complain how expensive it is for the tax payer to jail these people and in the same breath close shelters that can help people get back on their feet, and refuse to feed the homeless ( west Palm) and the way they think that homeless is a choice your a bum who can't find a job or a drug addicted criminal, not even giving a thought that its a harsh reality for most of the state and country... its simply staggering to my mind, that there are that many dicks living in the state of Florida, the very same people who site folks for having big flags on their homes and try to make lease laws for Cats...thats right cats...beyond staggering. well here it is the news story that set me off tonight, please take note of my comment at the bottom I'm sure that within a few months or weeks or even days it will be removed because someone was offended a redneck who has little or no time other then to buy beer bare footed in a public store or get off his sister who is ovulating to produce more Floridians who think its funny to beat to death homeless people ( it happened just a few months ago) Instead of sitting down and thinking of a solution to end or limit homelessness in this state leading the nation by example, like opening permanent shelters in this state instead they are closing them that will make an even bigger burden on the tax payer by arresting the homeless ...makes you think of the old saying "if you think education is expensive try Ignorance" 98% of Floridians are Ignorant.

Jailing Homeless Expensive
By TODD RUGER, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Published: February 25, 2008

SARASOTA - It costs taxpayers about $925 when police arrest a homeless person for drinking beer in public or sleeping behind a church, a Herald-Tribune analysis shows.

Aggressive enforcement of city ordinances targeting the homeless has led to 1,427 arrests over the past three years, costing taxpayers $1.3 million, the analysis shows.

The number of arrests has risen sharply in the past six months, adding to jail overcrowding. As county officials plan a $56 million jail, they considered a special charge to Sarasota each time police arrest someone for public urination, illegal camping, curbside drinking or panhandling.

Police and city officials say it is more expensive to do nothing than make the arrests, which, they say, keep crime down and the downtown area safe and clean for residents, businesses and tourists.

"If you don't feel safe to go downtown, do you think we're going to have downtown businesses? Do you think we'll have a tax base downtown?" asked Sarasota City Manager Robert Bartolotta. "We have ordinances and we're a society of laws, so if we have ordinances, it needs to be enforced."

Bartolotta disputed the newspaper's analysis. He said judges and clerks would be paid, officers would be on the payroll and the jail would operate regardless of how many homeless people are in jail on city violations.

Experts: Analysis Conservative, Fair

Criminal justice experts and a University of South Florida economist say the newspaper's estimate is conservative and fair, as each arrest puts someone in jail and creates another case for the county's courts. That contributes to a higher demand for jail bed space, time from judges and more work for the courts.

"If you elect to trigger this process, this is what it costs us to ramp up to do this," said David Bennett, a criminal justice consultant hired by the county to study ways to reduce the jail population.

National homeless advocates branded Sarasota the nation's meanest city in 2006. A local advocate said money would be better spent building housing and shelters and addressing the root problems of homelessness.

"It's not only the right thing, but the most fiscally responsible thing to do," said Richard Martin, former Sarasota mayor and now executive director of the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness. "We're forced into finding a better model at this point."

The homeless, who are usually too broke to post $120 bail to get out of jail for violating city laws, face two options. They can plead guilty at their earliest opportunity and spend as little as a week in jail, or fight the charge and spend at least 30 days in jail waiting for the next court appearance.

Court officials hold hearings on Fridays to take pleas and get people arrested for minor crimes out of jail in an effort to hold down the jail population.

Together, homeless defendants accounted for more than 200 arrests on misdemeanor charges over the past few years. On Feb. 15, nine of them were at the hearing.

Among them was Jeffrey Gale, 48, who pleaded guilty to an open container charge nine days earlier. He was out of jail two days when he was arrested again on charges of open container and trespassing.

After 45 arrests, Gale is well acquainted with the judge who presided over the hearing, as well as the public defender representing him, the bailiffs guarding him, and the plea deal they would offer.

For the latest open container and trespassing charges, he took a 15-day sentence with credit for time served, meaning he was to get out the next day. Then there is $298 in court costs and fines.

Gale's response: "Wow!"

Gale already owes $6,065 in similar fees and fines. Even if he paid those today, it would be a small dent in the more than $41,000 his arrests have cost taxpayers, according to the Herald-Tribune analysis.

Gale told the judge he is starting to lose track of places he has been ordered to stay away from. The list includes Resurrection House, a day center for the homeless and an alcohol rehabilitation center.

The newspaper's analysis may underestimate costs of arresting the homeless, say criminal justice experts, because it does not include arrests that start with a suspected violation that led to arrests on more serious charges.

For example, the 1,400 arrests tallied by the Herald-Tribune do not include one in which an officer cited a homeless man for panhandling, then found a knife in his pocket and also charged him with carrying a concealed weapon.

Likewise, the newspaper's tally would not include a case in which a homeless person cited for illegal camping was found to have drugs, and was charged for illegal camping and drug possession.

Most of the city's laws that target the homeless were adopted in 2002.

Martin, when he was mayor, called them a "tough love" approach to problems with the homeless.

Police have dedicated an officer to keeping tabs on the homeless and their camps, as well as directing officers not to ignore any infractions. When officers spot a person breaking city laws, they have the discretion to inform them of the rules, issue warnings, or cite them and give them a court date, said police Capt. Bill Spitler. He said officers do not make arrests unless it is the same person breaking the same rules over and over again or the person refuses to stop breaking city rules.

"We don't arrest everybody now, come on," Spitler said. "The people going to jail for these violations, this isn't their first rodeo, cowboy."

And some of the homeless spend a lot more time in jail than others.

Police know Mark E. Saunders by sight and have nicknamed him "John Wayne," though Spitler and another officer could not recall how the nickname originated.

Less than a week after officers cited Saunders for an open container, police found him spreading a beige sheet in the rear entranceway of Church of the Redeemer on Palm Avenue about 2 a.m.

According to an arrest report, Saunders held an open plastic Ice House beer bottle, and told officers he was getting ready to go to sleep. He was charged with breaking the city rules against curbside drinking and camping in public.

Establishments like the church "don't want people sleeping there, they don't want people urinating in their bushes, they don't want to clean up bottles," Spitler said.

Effort Not Working, Advocate Says

Martin, the homeless advocate, said the city needs to rethink its approach.

"It's just not working," Martin said. "Should someone really be arrested for something that would be normal inside a house, but you don't have a house?"

He suggested the city look into ways to keep the homeless out of jail by building subsidized housing to help people recover, or alternative sentences to keep them out of jail.

City Manager Bartolotta said the city is working with the county and judges to create alternative sentencing programs, making ordinance violators clean out parks or the beach instead of sitting in jail.

The county has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a jail consultant and new programs to reduce the jail population.

Arrests are a more expensive and less effective solution than shelters or other options because the court system does not address why the person does not have a home in the first place, said Bennett, the consultant the county hired.

Last year, the public defender's office in Broward County stopped representing those arrested for breaking laws in Fort Lauderdale, after studying the issue and finding it was about $30 a night for a shelter bed and $90 or more for a jail bed.
Reader Comments

Posted by ( notsosmart ) on February 25, 2008 at 3:51 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

Give Richard Martin the keys to a Van, fill the Van up on Fridays with the homeless people that got picked up by the police during the week, have Mr. Martin drive the people to the Florida Georgia border. If Mr. Martin deems it necessary, buy the homeless at that border crossing, one way non cancellable bus tickets...........

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Posted by ( LARGO_TOM ) on February 25, 2008 at 8:42 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

Sentence them to work crews for long periods of time where they can help pay for themselves and just perhaps pick up the work ethic.

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Posted by ( signit4bes ) on February 25, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. ( Suggest removal )

So is the implication that it costs more to arrest a homeless vs others? Or is it about arresting the employed vs the unemployed? If employed, you get in 'the system' and have to shell out clams. If unemployed than you can't really support 'the machine.'

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Posted by ( situp ) on February 25, 2008 at 1:20 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

I like the chain gang idea. If their invoice for being a burden to the system is $500 then make them do $500 worth of work for the county/city. I bet they learn real quick that they should follow the rules because they won't want to work and be away from the drugs/alcohol for that long.
Letting them get away with this stuff is not an option regardless of what the bleeding hearts will say.

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Posted by ( paulzpc ) on March 12, 2008 at 11:07 p.m. ( Suggest removal )

WTF?? arrest the homeless for being homeless?? is everyone in Florida too busy banging their sisters and having children that think this way normal?cause the rest on the WORLD know that homelessness is not a choice but a harsh reality for most people not being able to buy a job in this state..my god chain gangs? wow this is why Florida is leading the pack as one of the most Ignorant, most uncaring, selfish interbred people in the entire free world ...are there no prisons!!! are there no work houses!!!!if there is a god he should fold up the United states and empty most of the morons that live here in the pit of fire and gather up the rest as caring humans...shame on you all instead of work houses and prisons stop closing shelters ..florDAH chirst!!!!

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