Signal20
08-13-2006, 12:00 PM
From todays Tampa Tribune
NEW PORT RICHEY - Overcrowding at Pasco's two jails is getting so bad officials might have to arrange for temporary housing at the Land O' Lakes jail or outside the county.
"It's a nightmare waiting to happen," said County Commissioner Ann Hildebrand, chairwoman of Pasco's Public Safety Coordinating Council.
The jails were operating at 42 percent above capacity - 889 total beds - as of the latest count Friday.
Construction of a 512-bed addition to the Land O' Lakes lockup is set to start in February.
Even if the project stays on schedule, the extra space probably won't be ready until spring 2008.
Until then, the average daily inmate population there and at the smaller jail in New Port Richey is creeping closer to 1,300.
That's the maximum the state Fire Marshal's Office will allow, Sheriff Bob White said.
Once the average stays at 1,301, prisoners might have to be housed outside Pasco, he said.
The closest place might be in Orange County at least two hours away, sheriff's Maj. Michael Page said.
The only other option might be temporary housing on the central Pasco jail property.
"Everyone else is in the same boat we're in," Page said of jail overcrowding in Florida. "There's no place close."
For the first half of 2006, the daily average was 1,162 prisoners, compared with 1,174 last year.
Then, for reasons unclear, the numbers began climbing. For several hours July 20, the tally hit 1,303; this month, the daily average is 1,279.
Relief is ahead, however.
Architects are expected to finishing designing the Land O' Lakes addition by Sept. 22.
The $11.7 million project is expected to take a bit more than a year to finish. Another expansion is planned for 2010.
http://pasco.tbo.com/pasco/MGB5VUAGSQE.html
Talk amongst yourself, I am a little verklempt!!
http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/coffeetalk/coffee.jpg
DP2042
NEW PORT RICHEY - Overcrowding at Pasco's two jails is getting so bad officials might have to arrange for temporary housing at the Land O' Lakes jail or outside the county.
"It's a nightmare waiting to happen," said County Commissioner Ann Hildebrand, chairwoman of Pasco's Public Safety Coordinating Council.
The jails were operating at 42 percent above capacity - 889 total beds - as of the latest count Friday.
Construction of a 512-bed addition to the Land O' Lakes lockup is set to start in February.
Even if the project stays on schedule, the extra space probably won't be ready until spring 2008.
Until then, the average daily inmate population there and at the smaller jail in New Port Richey is creeping closer to 1,300.
That's the maximum the state Fire Marshal's Office will allow, Sheriff Bob White said.
Once the average stays at 1,301, prisoners might have to be housed outside Pasco, he said.
The closest place might be in Orange County at least two hours away, sheriff's Maj. Michael Page said.
The only other option might be temporary housing on the central Pasco jail property.
"Everyone else is in the same boat we're in," Page said of jail overcrowding in Florida. "There's no place close."
For the first half of 2006, the daily average was 1,162 prisoners, compared with 1,174 last year.
Then, for reasons unclear, the numbers began climbing. For several hours July 20, the tally hit 1,303; this month, the daily average is 1,279.
Relief is ahead, however.
Architects are expected to finishing designing the Land O' Lakes addition by Sept. 22.
The $11.7 million project is expected to take a bit more than a year to finish. Another expansion is planned for 2010.
http://pasco.tbo.com/pasco/MGB5VUAGSQE.html
Talk amongst yourself, I am a little verklempt!!
http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/coffeetalk/coffee.jpg
DP2042