Are Inmates Released From Cumberland County, Nc Jail With Gate Money

According to research by Greg Weeks, quondam Cumberland County Senior Resident Superior Court, it costs Cumberland Canton taxpayers a minimum of $62.l a solar day to business firm an inmate in the Cumberland County Detention Center.

That may not seem like much, but when costs are multiplied by last calendar week's inmate population of 437, the number is staggering. The daily bottom line for the canton jail hovers around $27,000.

Temporary detention for inmates awaiting trial is a necessary component to make our community safer. Notwithstanding, nigh jail inmates are charged with misdemeanors, not felonies, and well-nigh of them are in jail because they tin't make cash bonds.

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Several years agone, I was involved in a court-appointed shoplifting example where the defendant, a adult female, had been in jail for more than than a twelvemonth considering she could not make a $1,000 greenbacks bail. Ten percent of her bond, $100, and a bail bond agent would have secured her freedom. Simply a cash bail meant money which she didn't have.

Was this situation fair play for the shoplifter, pending trial, defenseless stealing less than $20 of merchandise? Consider this: if a trial approximate had bedevilled her, she would not take received an active judgement. Conversely, her disability to make bail in 12 months cost taxpayers about $23,000.

Greg Weeks is a fellow member of Organizing Against Racism Cumberland County (OARCC). They have been researching bond reform and the harmful effects of monetary bail conditions and pretrial incarceration, especially in poor and minority communities. In March, OARCC formed a Pretrial Release Working Group. The grouping consisted of District Chaser Billy West; Public Defender Cindy Black; Fayetteville Banana Police Chief Anthony Kelly; Major Tandra Adams, Chief Jailer, with the Cumberland County Sheriff's Role; and OARCC board members to include former Fayetteville Mayor Chaser Marshall Pitts, and retired judges Greg Weeks and Mary Ann Tally.

The working grouping met and reached a consensus on some bond policy revisions. OARCC later wrote a letter outlining the proposals to Cumberland County Senior Resident Superior Court Guess Jim Ammons. Specifically, they desire a new Arrest Release Policy for Cumberland County. They hoped Approximate Ammons would answer by June 1, 2021, just he has not answered their letter yet.

More money for inmates than school students

Cumberland County spends a lot of money on jail inmates awaiting trial, and OARCC has outlined cost-savings to the county by proposing reduced incarceration and detention numbers. Sadly, nosotros are spending more on incarcerating inmates than our investment in our public schools.

A County school official told me nosotros pay approximately $9.22 a day per pupil. Understandably, information technology costs more to business firm and feed inmates three meals a solar day than students who practise not require the same 24-hour care, but the imbalance of $9.22 per child versus $62.50 per inmate is a gap hard to ignore.

Especially when the canton Board of Commissioners recently adopted a new budget allotting the Sheriff'southward Office an boosted $3.7 million, while the Lath of Education saw about $ii.3 meg more in funding, an corporeality that didn't come across their request.

Getting inmates out of jail too gets them out of the taxpayer's pockets. Saddling our public by unnecessarily holding people pretrial in jail is not simply unjust, merely it'south also expensive.

Bail reform should exist an attractive option when thinking more critically most how our tax dollars are used. Cumberland County is at a critical crossroads. Nosotros have an opportunity to decide if standing to support pretrial detention is necessary and if the injustice and economic harm information technology extends is a true reflection of our values and who we aim to exist.

If yous're accused of something in America, you're supposed to be presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Cash bail has created a dual justice system, where only people with money benefit from that essential legal protection. All others are in a no-win state of affairs: Stay in jail until your mean solar day in court, or plead guilty just then you can go abode.

Troy Williams is a member of The Fayetteville Observer Community Advisory Lath. He is a legal analyst and criminal defense investigator. He can exist reached at talk2troywilliams@yahoo.com.

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Source: https://www.fayobserver.com/story/opinion/2021/06/20/troy-williams-cumberland-county-spending-lots-money-house-low-level-offenders-we-dont-have-to/7728271002/

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