Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s, my family was addicted to watching a weekly TV show called Perry Mason, featuring actors Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, William Hopper, and William Talman. Much of what I understand or believe about our American legal system — even to this day — came from watching these hour-long courtroom dramas derived largely from short stories written by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Whenever a witness took the stand, they were asked to place their hand on a bible and swear — to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. At least, that’s how I remember it.
That’s an interesting oath. To not only to tell the truth, but to tell the whole truth. How many of us can claim we do that, in our daily lives… that we tell the whole truth?
Last month, reporter Randi Pierce wrote a short article in the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN, with the headline:
La Plata County Jail overcrowding affects Archuleta County
As our Daily Post readers know, County Sheriff Rich Valdez abandoned our existing County Jail facility in April 2015, and has been waiting ever since for a new jail to be built. In the meantime, the voters have twice turned down proposals to increase our Archuleta County sales tax from 2 percent to 3 percent in order to fund a new 54-bed jail, a new Sheriff’s Office, and other vaguely-identified “justice system capital improvements.” Sheriff Valdez and his deputies have therefore been transporting inmates back and forth to the La Plata County Jail — since April 2015.
According to Ms. Pierce’s SUN article of January 10:
… the La Plata County Jail is experiencing overcrowding conditions, kicking into place an amended 2018 administrative order issued by Sixth Judicial District Chief Judge Jeffrey Wilson that limits who may be booked into the facility. The “Amended Order Authorizing the Release of Nonviolent Arrestees During LPCJ Overcrowding” takes effect when that jail is “experiencing overcrowding conditions by hosting 200 or more inmates.”
Under the order, the jail may refuse to accept into custody the following individuals:
l . Any defendants arrested for any nonviolent offense that constitutes an F-4 or lower offense and any drug felony 4 or lower offense;
2. Any probation revocation (failure to comply) warrants that have a monetary bond amount set in the warrant; and,
3. Any county court FTA bench warrants where the bond is set at $10,000 or less and any district court FTA warrants where the bond is set at $25,000 or less…
I made several calls to La Plata County yesterday — and left messages — hoping to get a better understanding of the conditions at the La Plata County Jail, and some history about how the jail became overcrowded. So far, I’ve not had any luck hearing back from folks who might be able to explain the situation. In other words, I’ve not yet heard the whole truth about the overcrowding at the La Plata County Jail.
But I did run across a video, produced by reporter Shaun Stanley and posted by the Durango Herald in January 2017. Less than one minute long… but pretty interesting.
In the video, Captain Larry Foulkas suggests that the Sheriff could “rent” up to 70 La Plata bed spaces to the Colorado Department of Correction, to house state inmates.
The La Plata County government has been struggling, financially, for a number of years now. From an October 2018 article in the Herald, written by reporter Jonathan Romeo:
For years, La Plata County has had to deal with declining revenues related to a decrease in property tax revenue, resulting in the county having to cut back on many services. Since 2010, the county’s property tax revenue has declined 50 percent – from $29.4 million to $14.9 million in 2018 – largely a result of oil and gas prices dropping.
This year, the county expects budget revenue of about $61.1 million and $74.9 million in expenditures.
Ouch. Not a pretty picture. A 50 percent decline in property tax revenue.
So we might understand that, in an attempt to beef up the County budget, the County Jail could be renting out 70 beds in their jail to the Colorado Department of Corrections. Another Durango Herald article written by reporter Jessica Pace notes that, already in 2017, the La Plata County Jail was ‘renting’ 24 beds to the state, and bringing in about $369,000 in rental income. Housing as many as 60 Corrections inmates would mean a net profit of $553,000 per year.
In 2017, La Plata’s actual daily cost to house an inmate was $11.52. The Department of Corrections’ pay rate was $53.65, which meant a net profit to the County of about $42 per inmate, per day.
You can read the full Herald article here.
How was the La Plata County Sheriff feeling about this highly profitable incarceration effort? From Ms. Pace’s article:
“We’re not thrilled, but we want to do our part,” said Sheriff Sean Smith.
The county is dealing with a tighter budget in 2017, stemming from a steep decline in property tax revenue. The Sheriff’s Office is finalizing an agreement with the Department of Corrections, and officials expect to start a six-month pilot by the end of January.
To handle the new intakes, the Sheriff’s Office intends to use existing resources and rotate staff members from patrol, investigations and administration divisions, Detentions Division Captain Larry Foukas said. Otherwise, the department would need to add five full-time employees. But rotating staff members could mean diminished services to county residents, such as longer response times.
“The last issue is one we can’t predict: How will this affect the morale and commitment of staff?” Smith said…
“The way it’s described, a 60-bed level is a very big concern,” said Commissioner Julie Westendorff. “When the burden is on our staff, it looks like we’re subsidizing the state. I’d be hard-pressed to tell our citizens they have to wait longer because we’re helping the state.”
I don’t know the whole truth about this situation. At this point, I only know what I’ve read in the papers. Although I hope to someday understand how this highly profitable rental program is working out in Durango — currently, as of February 2019 — I have not yet heard back from La Plata County officials. But I did read some comments by Archuleta County Sheriff Rich Valdez, as quoted by SUN reporter Randi Pierce last month:
“This is a perfect example to show how busy we are,” Archuleta County Sheriff Rich Valdez said Monday. “And it’s not just Archuleta County; it’s La Plata County.”
Valdez said the La Plata County Jail’s capacity is about 200 due to current staffing. The Sheriff explained that when [Judge Wilson’s ‘Overcrowding’] order went into effect in 2018, it lasted a few weeks before the number of inmates dropped down enough for it to be lifted.
Sheriff Valdez told Ms. Pierce that Archuleta County had 32 inmates booked into the Durango facility, though he noted a few were awaiting transfers to the Colorado Department of Corrections. He claimed that the average for Archuleta County is the mid- to upper-20s in terms of numbers of inmates.
“This is tough. They’re doing the best they can for us,” Valdez told Ms. Pierce. “We have no control over the facility over there.”
He added that it puts Archuleta County in a tough spot because there may be misdemeanor subjects who should be in custody who are not under the order, but that Archuleta County has no choice. “This is a perfect example of us not having our own facility and being able to manage our own people,” he said.
What’s the real story, here? I mean, like, the whole truth?