Thread: NC: Sheriff suggests 'tent' jail to ease crowding

Published Thu, Jul 24, 2008 12:00 AM

By PATRICK DONOHUE
pdonohue@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5531
A compound on county-owned property complete with razor wire, chain-link fencing, canvas tents and portable showers and toilets dubbed "Camp Beaufort" may be Beaufort County's best chance to quickly alleviate crowding in the Beaufort County Detention Center, said Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner.


New immigration-related legislation from the state and Beaufort County, coupled with the promise of additional immigration enforcement from the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, stands to put more pressure on a jail already exceeding its capacity by more than 150 inmates.

With countywide audits underway to verify federally required employee records, a state law cracking down on businesses that willingly hire illegal immigrants,and five new Sheriff's Office Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents expected to generate "hundreds" of immigration cases weekly, the number of inmates is expected to soar.

"We're not going to stop putting people in jail, so we've got to look at some modifications here," Tanner said. "You can't build a jail any time soon that will handle this problem, so we're looking at the possibility of taking some county property, and we're probably going to have to create Camp Beaufort."

Just since July 12, more than 35 foreign-born nationals have been detained at the Beaufort County Detention Center on a variety of charges -- none felonies -- and Tanner estimates that as many as 100 illegal immigrants were being held at the detention center awaiting deportation.

Tanner said county officials need to determine whether such a facility would meet S.C. Department of Corrections standards before pricing the project or looking at county property that could be used as a temporary holding facility.

"It's a temporary fix to a problem that must be dealt with," he said. "The overflow at the jail consists of not just foreign-born illegals. We've got weekend warriors, we've got deadbeat dads taking up bed space, we've got foreign-born illegals that are on detainer, and then we've got the general population that are waiting to be tried."

While the county is "exploring every available option" to alleviate the crowded jail, a site for Camp Beaufort has not been identified, said Phil Foot, director of the Beaufort County Detention Center.

"We've got to look at where the county has property and where we have the infrastructure to support something like this," he said. "You can't just throw up some tents and some fences. You've got to deal with feeding the inmates, security, and staffing levels, and all of these other things. It's not an easy decision."

Foot estimated that a realistic capacity for prison camp would be between 50 and 100 inmates.

A tent city is just one of the concepts that the county is looking at to relieve crowding at the detention center, said Weston Newton, chairman of the Beaufort County Council.

"We are looking at the possibility of some temporary misdemeanor-type facility, which would all have to be certified by the state," he said. "Clearly, we have issues at the jail and we're exploring a lot of long-term and short-term ways to deal with those issues and we are looking at a temporary facility as one of the possible short-term solutions.

"It's nothing more than a concept right now," he said.

The conceptualized Camp Beaufort closely resembles a tent city built by Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, Ariz., in 1993 to handle overflow from a county jail. The Maricopa County inmates must wear pink underwear and sleep in canvas tents in remote parts of the Arizona desert.

Arpaio's controversial policies have drawn the ire of the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups that claim the way in which he houses inmates is inhumane.

Tanner said a minimum-security tent city in Beaufort is not an imitation of Arpaio's practices.

"We're not copying Sheriff Arpaio in Arizona," he said. "If we can meet the minimum standards from the Department of Corrections on temporary holding, and it can be done in a tent city-type thing, a Guantanamo Bay-type setting, then that's what we'll do."



Dismissing charges


As local officials explore the viability of Camp Beaufort, prosecutors and law enforcement are looking to modify how they handle detainees internally and how they are processed in the criminal justice system to lessen the load on the detention center.

Tanner said he and 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone were working to dismiss charges against about 15 illegal aliens at the detention center to expedite their deportation and get them out of the detention center.

When someone suspected of being an illegal immigrant is arrested by local police and booked at the jail, ICE agents determine whether that person is in the country illegally through a federal identification system, and they place a detainer on them.

The detainer can be lifted only when the local charges they face have been resolved, either by paying a fine or completing jail time, depending on the crime. Tanner said getting minor crimes and misdemeanors against illegal immigrants adjudicated quickly, even by dismissing charges, could speed the deportation process.

"If they're under detainer and they're going to be deported, then we'll dismiss the state charges because we're dealing with the individual that committed the crime," he said. "We can get them out of the jail because once that case has been adjudicated, and dismissing the case is adjudication, we can notify ICE and tell them, 'Hey, we have one here that's ready for deportation.'"

Once the local case is adjudicated against an illegal immigrant, Tanner explained, the meter starts running and the federal government must reimburse county and state facilities for the time that inmate spends in the system past the first 48 hours, excluding holidays and weekends.

Tanner said his office and prosecutors would not consider dropping charges in cases where a crime has been committed against a person.

"If there is a misdemeanor crime committed by a person under detainer, and there is a victim wanting their day in court or a DUI case or a (criminal domestic violence) case, they will be held ...and be tried," he said. "If it's a crime against the state of South Carolina, like no driver's license or speeding, reckless driving -- even possession of marijuana or simple possession of cocaine -- then we'll get permission from the solicitor to dismiss that case. If, and only if, that person is under detained and is going to be deported, will we entertain dismissing the state charges."

A regional solution


Serving as the chairman of a subcommittee on illegal immigration for the S.C. Sheriff's Association, Tanner proposed building and staffing of three federally funded, state-operated minimum security jails to house illegal immigrants awaiting deportation and those immigrants sentenced by a court to serve a year or less.

Each proposed jail, in Colleton, Laurens, and Lee counties, would cost about $5 million, according to Tanner's proposal. A regional facility in Colleton County would serve Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton, Barnwell, Bamberg, Orangeburg, Calhoun, Dorchester, Allendale, Berkeley and Charleston counties.

The proposal states that each 400-bed facility would require a minimum of 25 acres and would "dramatically reduce and/or eliminate" crowding in local jails. The land would be donated by the host county, the proposal said.

"The federal government told us that the York County jail was the last 287(g) jail that will be established in South Carolina," he said. The 287(g) section of immigration law allows state officers and employees to perform the functions of an immigrations officer. "So I went back to the drawing board and I said, 'Well, if they won't do a county jail, then let's do some state prisons.' This will help every county in the state, not just ours," the sheriff added.

Tanner said his proposal has garnered support from Gov. Mark Sanford, U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint, and Jon Ozmint, director of the S.C. Department of Corrections.

Construction costs for the regional jails, under Tanner's proposal, would be covered by the Department of Homeland Security and by other federal grants, a prospect the federal government has been slow to warm up to.

"We're waiting for the Department of Homeland Security to understand the scope of the problem in South Carolina," Tanner said. "They're dependent on the S.C. Department of Corrections and on county jails to house their prisoners. Once the inmates are detained and awaiting deportation, they're either going to pay dearly to county facilities to house their prisoners or they're going to have bite the bullet and pay this $15 million and build these 1,200 beds."

Foot said ICE agents in Charleston have been quick to pick up inmates from the detention center for deportation, but he will not hesitate if their prisoners are left to clog up his jail.

"They've been here almost every day with a transport asking us if we have anyone for them to pick up," Foot said. "I am keeping a very close eye on that, and if the federal government doesn't follow its own rules, I'll be very quick to put a bill together."

The regional jail is seen as a way to relieve crowding in county jails, but it appears that illegal immigration is having little effect on conditions in state prisons, which house all inmates sentenced to more than 90 days in prison.

Of the more than 23,000 inmates in the state penal system, only 369 were illegal aliens, said Josh Gelinas, communications director for the S.C. Department of Corrections.

"We're spending roughly $38 a day on those inmates, and that's certainly a cost that we can absorb," Gelinas said. "We don't need more state prisons to house them; illegal immigration is putting much more of a crunch on local jails."



State, county reacts to illegal immigration


Illegal immigration will continue to be a hot-button issue in the Lowcountry, Tanner said.

"I want foreign-born illegals to know that their days in Beaufort County are numbered," he said. "You have an opportunity to move on your own. You can leave. If you don't leave, eventually we're going to deal with you ... and if you're in this country illegally and you're committing crimes, you're going to be dealt with fast."

Tanner said audits being conducted on county businesses by a Hilton Head Island-based firm ultimately will lead his agents in the direction of those working in the county illegally.

Auditors are checking the federal immigration paperwork filled out by employees called I-9s, which commonly include a worker's name and a Social Security number. Information on businesses with suspicious or potentially counterfeit employee records is being handed over to the Sheriff's Office for further investigation, Tanner said.

Employers found guilty of hiring illegal immigrants under the county ordinance have the option of firing those employees to come under compliance. The state statute gives South Carolina businesses until next summer to verify the legal status of their employees. Business with fewer than 100 employees have until summer 2010, according to the statute.

In addition to investigating leads generated by the audits, Tanner said his ICE agents also would be working with the Multi-Jurisdictional Drug Task Force on gang- and drug-related activity in the county. Between them, Tanner said the agents were capable of producing "hundreds" of cases a week, adding more strain on the local jail.

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/501558.html

What about putting illegal criminals in the closed military bases with the military or federal marshals watching them?

"I want foreign-born illegals to know that their days in Beaufort County are numbered," he said. "You have an opportunity to move on your own. You can leave. If you don't leave, eventually we're going to deal with you ... and if you're in this country illegally and you're committing crimes, you're going to be dealt with fast."

This guy needs to hit Gavin Newsom up the side of the head and knock some sense in him.