Plan Would Shorten Jail Time For Some Illegal Immigrants

TUCSON, Ariz. - The Pima County Attorney’s Office is working on a plan to get illegal immigrants accused of misdemeanor crimes out of jail and back to their home countries faster.

The effort is to save the hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money that it takes to keep inmates jailed as they await court appearances.

On any given day, about 10 percent of prisoners in the county jail are in the country illegally.

It takes about 10 days to resolve most misdemeanor cases, either through dismissals or plea agreements.

But county officials are considering offering misdemeanor suspects plea agreements within a day or two of their arrests when they’re arraigned.

In most cases, it would be the same deal suspects would get anyway, only about eight or nine days sooner. They’d be sentenced to time they’ve already served in jail, or probation, and transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Florence or Eloy.

Officials estimate that could save the county 300-thousand-dollars a year
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... ts-ON.html
http://oneoldvet.com/?p=5193