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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The way Salt Lake County officials look at it, if you add jail cells, the judges will just fill them up.
So despite jail-crowding problems, the County Council has mandated that 300 jail beds be cut by July.
The county officials have been pushing for alternatives to incarceration, ways to move low-risk inmates out of the jail and into treatment programs.
It's a promising idea, but so far it isn't working, Sheriff Aaron Kennard said.
Kennard recently asked the council to reconsider the 300-bed cut and plans on presenting a new budget request within the month.
If the council doesn't change its mind on the jail-bed issue, Kennard will have to close another unit -- 64 beds -- by March 1.
The closure would also mark the end of the Correction Addictions Treatments Systems program, an in-house drug treatment program highly favored by Utah judges, said Pat Fleming, director of the county's substance abuse division.
Fleming is scrambling to find some way to continue the program if the council does not reconsider.
The county also has other ways to treat offenders, including the two-month-old Day Reporting Center, where prisoners can swap jail time for outpatient treatment.
The DRC will curb the jail population significantly because the offenders who will be moved to the substance-abuse program are those who are most likely to endure the "revolving door" of the prison system, said Gary Dalton, director of the county's criminal justice services division.
So far, 10 people have successfully completed the DRC's substance abuse treatment program, 12 left without completing it and three never showed up, said Jean Nielsen, county human services director.
Kennard said the DRC has had a "minimal impact on the jail population" and "a good many" of those in the program have re-offended.
Part of the problem is some justice court judges are not handing out sentences that follow the goals of the alternatives to incarceration programs.
Kennard said one judge, for example, recently ordered one offender to report to the DRC, finish the program and then report to the jail for a 50-day sentence.
"I'm getting to a point where I'm going to have to violate the judges' orders," Kennard said. "And if the judge feels so inclined to hold me in contempt, I'll show up in the court and face him. I'm not afraid; the law is on my side."
Most judges are supporting the county's aims, Assistant State Court Administrator Rick Schwermer said.
County Mayor Peter Corroon said the inconsistent sentencing could be the result of a power struggle between the County Council and judges.
He said judges are miffed at the council for passing a resolution that the jail not accept any offenders with a class C misdemeanor or class B misdemeanor traffic violation, except for DUI convictions or offenders with a record of domestic violence.
"People are flexing their muscle a little bit about who has the power to do what," Corroon said. "I think (the judges) are upset because our council has taken away some of their control over who can go to jail and for how long."
No matter what programs the county offers or sentences judges hand out, the jail will always be full, Dalton said.
"If there is an empty bed at the jail, the judges will fill that up," Dalton said. "If we didn't have these alternatives, the jail would be completely overcrowded."
Kennard said that if alternatives are to work, he needs ways to track inmates once they are released from the jail.
Kennard asked the county for at least 50 more ankle bracelets for electronic monitoring, which in turn means he needs more staff to track the 50 former inmates wearing the devices.
Kennard also wants the county to reopen Oxbow jail, which would free up 500 beds from the overcrowded county jail.
Corroon said finding alternatives to jail incarceration will save money and give offenders treatment that they need.
"The bottom line is jails are expensive and aren't the best solution for treating people with substance abuse problems," he said.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
