Quote Originally Posted by Stan Zimmerman, Pelican Press
The Sarasota Criminal Justice Commission set criteria for a new jail site. The new jail must:
  • be more than a half-mile from any school. [/*:m:1vl41btd]
  • be no more than one mile from a major road. [/*:m:1vl41btd]
  • be outside hurricane evacuation zones[/*:m:1vl41btd]
  • be outside the 100-year floodplain[/*:m:1vl41btd]
  • cannot go in environmentally sensitive or endangered lands or in a park. [/*:m:1vl41btd]
  • should not be in a zoned residential or commercial property (Commission Chairwoman Shannon Staub noted any site would have to be re-zoned anyway for government use).[/*:m:1vl41btd]

The commission is in the early stages of deciding not only where the new jail will be located, but whether the structure should include a "community corrections’ facility" – a kind of halfway house where prisoners could receive education, therapy and housing for work release programs.

The difference between just a jail and the jail and community corrections buildings would involve not only cost, but site size (in terms of acres).

The jail would require about 12 acres, while the jail and community correction facility would need 30 acres.

In addition to the issue of helping relieve overcrowding, each prisoner costs about $75 per day to house.
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