Agenda - 05-01-2018 8-a - Minutes

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10 Chair Dorosin said this discussion did occur regarding this previous site, but all of these 1 questions seem to be back on the table with this new site. 2 Commissioner Jacobs said he would like to see a cost benefit analysis from the 3 Sheriff’s perspective, if they looked at half as many federal prisoners in order to accommodate 4 all the desired services. He said it would be harder go back and try to add services later on. 5 He asked if it is the desire to have the optimal facility at the beginning, or later on. He said he 6 is not pre-judging about the federal prisoners, but he would like to have the auxiliary/respite 7 services, and now is the time to do it, not later. 8 Commissioner McKee clarified that Commissioner Jacobs is saying to build to the 9 optimal need for the next 30 years. 10 Commissioner Jacobs said there have been previous discussions about pods. He 11 asked if it would be preferable to knock off one pod, which would have been for federal 12 prisoners, and take this money and space to have the auxiliary services now; or to keep the 13 same level of federal prisoners. 14 Commissioner McKee said his concern is that this facility needs to be built to meet 15 Orange County needs for 2040. He said he wholly supports restorative justice, diversion plans 16 etc., but as the County grows, so will the need for detention. He said he would suggest 17 building it for 144 beds, including all support services, and add pods as needed. He said as 18 the number of local inmates increases, the number of federal inmates will decrease. 19 Commissioner Jacobs said to build all the core services at the beginning, with a simple 20 design to add pods over time. He asked if they start with the assumption of x number of 21 federal prisoners, or do they remove some of the federal prisoners to add items that are not 22 currently included in the core services, such as the unsecured respite services. 23 Chair Dorosin said he recommends starting with the number of Orange County 24 prisoners, which is much less than 144. He said he would be in f avor of having it smaller, 25 doing all of the work on diversion, and take the federal piece out of the picture. 26 Bonnie Hammersley said will ask the designer to bring back options and economies of 27 scale. She referred to a cost analysis for federal inmates, and said the County does not 28 receive the full amount for these inmates, and the County is on a three-year fixed price 29 agreement. She said the County subsidizes the federal inmates. 30 Commissioner Marcoplos asked Sheriff Blackwood if he could give a quick overview of 31 the federal inmates. 32 Sheriff Blackwood said the federal inmates constitute a little less than half of the 33 population, and Orange County is a good location between Durham, Greensboro and Raleigh 34 to house these inmates while they are awaiting federal hearings. He said Travis Myren has 35 done a comprehensive study on the cost analysis. 36 Commissioner Marcoplos said federal inmates are basically waiting for hearings, and 37 asked if the average length of stay could be identified. 38 Sheriff Blackwood said it varies. 39 Commissioner Burroughs asked Chair Dorosin if he could further clarify his feelings 40 about the federal inmates. She said she understands he does not want the County to make 41 money from them, but asked if he is concerned about people being jailed in general. She said 42 the County has no control over who is assigned to federal prison. 43 Chair Dorosin said he feels that the County’s detention center should be for Orange 44 County detainees, and be built for the needs of the County, both from a financial perspective 45 and a criminal justice perspective. He said building a bigger jail than is necessary is 46 counterintuitive to what the County is trying to accomplish with its alternative services. He said 47 there is incentive to use diversionary programs for first time offenders, if there are constraints 48 in place regarding the size of the jail. He said this is consistent with trends across the country. 49