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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 09-30-2010 PUBLIC SAFETY COORDINATING COUNCIL Minutes of Meeting September 30, 2010 Convened: Adjourned: 3:33 p.m.4:15 p.m. CALL TO ORDER Commissioner Craft called the meeting to order at 3:36 p.m. in Conference Room # 3, 2300 Virginia Avenue, Fort Pierce, Florida. ROLL CALL Roll call was taken. Members Present: Commissioner Chris Craft Ken Mascara, Sheriff of SLC Pat Tighe, Major th Judge Philip J. Yacucci, 19 Circuit Scott Harloff for Suzanne Caudell, CORE Program Michael Davis for Thomas Mark, Department of Corrections John Romano, New Horizons Dennis Schmidt for Janet Collins, Bail Association Members Absent: th Chief Judge Steve Levin, 19 Circuit Bruce Colton, State Attorney Diamond Litty, Public Defender Others Present: Mark Godwin, SLC Criminal Justice Coordinator Ethel Rowland, Taxpayer Broderick Underwood, SLC Analyst Trevor Morganti, Classification Supervisor SLC SO Gary Robinson, PSL PD Gary Wilson, SLC SO Toby Long, SLC SO APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes from July 29, 2010 were unanimously approved. Public Safety Coordinating Council September 30, 2010 Page 2 UPDATE by SLC Sheriff’s Office - Sheriff Mascara: Sheriff Mascara brought a domestic violence case to the table that was of great concern because of a timeline of events that took place. Major Tighe handed out a timeline of events of a particular case. A subject was arrested for violation of a domestic violence injunction issued by the court. The subject was released by Judge Barnes on recognizance (RoR) the next morning. He was arrested for the second time a short while later for the same charge and RoR again. He reoffended for the third time and was brought into jail and the Judge RoR once again. This happened a fourth time and the Sheriff explained this person had a rap sheet of thirty-six different charges preceding his release and arrest. Sheriff Mascara explained how it came to his attention on the third RoR. The Clerk of Court could not keep up with the RoR’s and subsequent refiling of the injunction in the system. Sheriff went on to say that we released him for the fourth time, supposedly in error, but that is not what happened and he asked Major Tighe to go over the time line. Major Tighe explained although they could have gone back to January of 2010 they chose to rd track the time line from July 23, 2010. Prior to July 23 this man was arrested for two injunctions rd for domestic violence (case numbers in green). On July 23 Judge Barnes RoR both of his injunctions that he placed on the person who violated them. On September 22(the same two cases) Judge Barnes signed a warrant to re-take the offender into custody because he reoffended. The order went from the Court to the Clerk’s Office; the Sheriff’s office had not seen it on ndth September 22. On September 24 he was arrested for a third injunction order issued by the Court and he was in the Sheriff’s custody. On the time line (in yellow) the order the Judge issued ndth on September 22 was finally certified by the Clerk on September 27 but it still never made it to the Sheriff’s Office (five days later). The document was time stamped in at the Sheriff’s office on th September 29 at 8:51 a.m... At the same time it is being time stamped in the warrants division the young man is in Judge Barnes Court room for the arrest of a domestic violence injunction th from September 24. Judge Barnes released him. The Sheriff’s office receives the Court disposition of his release sent over (third page down) at 9:41 time stamped in the computer. At the same time the warrants that made it to the warrants division at the Courthouse ten miles from the jail were hand delivered to the jail at 11:00 a.m.. As they were hand delivered to status clerk, booking had already released the defendant. Judge Barnes called the Sheriff’s office and said they had an erroneous release. Major Tighe responded, “It can’t be when you have documents floating around like this”. Major Tighe continued that the County Commission had spent a considerable amount of money seven years ago so that there would be an electronic transfer of data; yet they had to deal with a paper trail that took seven days to reach them. Commissioner Craft asked if Major Tighe had a conversation with the Clerk’s office on what took place and Major Tighe replied, “Not yet because it just came to light last night”. Sheriff Mascara added that he will follow up with the Clerk of Court. The Sheriff happened to be at the jail last night and received the call from the victim absolutely scared to death that he was out. He had already driven by her house, called, and texted. She wanted to know why he was out once again. The Sheriff explained he had just received the new Judge’s orders to pick him up again and they would do everything possible to get him. He was arrested last night after the Sheriff spoke to the victim. This is very serious and he does not want to see anything happen here like what took Public Safety Coordinating Council September 30, 2010 Page 3 place in Riviera Beach. He is not sure if it is factual about the man who killed his wife and kids, but he heard that case was also in violation of a domestic violence injunction. It was agreed, that in our case, there was definitely a breakdown within the system in regards to the paperwork. Commissioner Craft requested Mr. Godwin to check with Mr. McIntyre to find out what needs to be done to add a member to the Public Safety Coordinating Council by ordinance. Mr. Godwin was also asked to draft a letter to the Clerk of Circuit Court so they are at the table and we can deal with these issues. Sheriff Mascara’s second concern is the increasing trend of misdemeanors in the jail. Last week the population stats showed 59% male felons and 31% misdemeanor. This week it fluxed to 60/40. He does not know where the breakdown is and assumed it was on the judicial side of the house. He posed the question to the Major and he sent an email to Mark and Broderick to help understand the numbers. Mr. Godwin said that Broderick, CJIS Annalist does a great job with the information he has. They cannot figure the breakdown because there is information that Broderick does not have access to for Public Safety reasons. Information such as data that goes from the Clerk’s office to the jail and to the State attorney’s office. Commissioner Craft asked if inmates who bail out are tracked and is there a reduction of numbers there? Judge Yacucci gave some examples of why the number of misdemeanors can go up such as: violation of notice to appear or violation of programs that are used like Pretrial or condition of bond (orders to try and keep them out of jail in the first place) then an order is given to pick them up again. The jail is not just for felons but for misdemeanors too. There was much discussion regarding the trend and how crimes have changed as well. The drug trade has changed. In the past there was crack being sold on the street and now the trend is prescription drugs. They will continue investigate these trends that are recognized so that there will be a better understanding of what is happening. Major Tighe announced that the medical facility at the jail went through a reaccreditation with the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. They are nominated as the Facility of the Year. The nomination was a great honor. There was discussion about legislation regarding Medicaid and Medicare law rates for inmates in Federal prison as opposed to County jail. Commissioner Craft mentioned that Mark sent an email that Commissioner Grande signed. Mark said that it was the letter that was forwarded to the Florida Association of Counties. Commissioner Craft said that Commissioner Grande is absolutely right. As a group we need to support amending the current law as opposed to having a new law that deals with the County differently. By doing that we can help put the attention on the fact that they are treating themselves differently than the Counties. Commissioner Craft mentioned that he hopes to pass some sort of proclamation supporting that aspect of it as opposed to having an entirely new bill. The goal is to have the same rules across the board. Major agreed and shared an article on the subject. Commissioner asked him to break it down. Major Tighe explained they will go after the Medicare rate for DJJ and the DOC but not local. Mr. Godwin said if an inmate is incarcerated and sentenced to the State Prison they get the Medicare rate plus 10%. If the same individual is sentenced to the County jail they do not qualify for that rate. Public Safety Coordinating Council September 30, 2010 Page 4 Transitional housing was discussed. The Major and Chaplin held a meeting with owners of these homes, County Code, and County Attorney. The meeting was due to a recent complaint of a transitional home being operated illegally. A neighbor of the home complained and the issue was looked into. Mark Godwin shared the news of the faith based organization that was running that home agreed to close it down and reopen once they are in compliance. There are twenty-six transitional homes in St. Lucie County that the system utilizes. There has been great success for these individuals with Mental Health Court and Drug Court as well. There was a question of violation of County Code if two or more people live in a household and are not related. Commissioner Craft indicated if that is the case the code can be amended by adding this item to the Agenda. Another meeting will be held regarding transitional homes and the standards for them. Major Tighe advised that the memorandum agreement between the St. Lucie County Health Department and the Sheriff’s office is up for signing. The Major explained that the Health Department obtains a grant to pay for the treatment medication and housing of HIV patients in the community. The problem is these individuals get arrested and once they do the Health Department does not pay anymore. The County Commission then receives the bill on an annual basis which runs over a million dollars. Major explained that the MOU allows the Health Department to come into his facility every day and test for new patients which drive the cost up. He asked Commissioner Craft if he wants him to take the MOU to the Sheriff for signature. Commissioner Craft does not think we can stop the testing, but would like to find out why the Health Department can’t start paying for the medication costs for the indigent in our facility. Judge Yacucci brought up the point that these individuals who are arrested are not yet convicted. It was agreed to set up a meeting with all who need to be involved to discuss look into this further. Major Tighe and Trevor Morganti brought up the fact that with 1400 inmates in the jail about 10% of the populations are trouble makers. An inmate management meeting is held is held with Prison Health Services (PHS), Food Service staff, Mental Health staff and other key players. They discuss the behavior problems of specific inmates and act accordingly but all the inmates get treated the same. The longer they stay the worse they get. A few cases were mentioned of inmates in the jail over one thousand days. There are about twenty five not getting through the system. The Capital crimes are very complex and time consuming. This not only adds to the average length of stay but costs of housing and medical cost. Legal aspects can hold up a case as well as the inmate. There have been inmates that are set to go to trial and they fire their attorney and then the whole process starts again. Major Tighe agrees this is a long time but compared to Dade County, who has ten individuals in custody for ten years that still have not gone to trial, we may not be doing too bad. Sheriff Mascara agreed to draft a letter on behalf of the Public Safety Coordinating Council to the Chief Judge to try and help find a solution to this issue. Public Safety Coordinating Council September 30, 2010 Page 5 UPDATE by Criminal Justice Coordinator- Mark Godwin: Mr. Godwin went over the stats that Broderick has been working on a new process to figure the average length of stay. Some positive news was shared regarding the medical review and release up date. There have been at least forty cases reviewed and the court made decisions on the conditions of release. The Judges have been phenomenal to get these cases reviewed so rapidly. He advised the group of an email that came from Penellas County Sheriff’s Office that was drafted by Chief Deputy Jennifer Moore. She had drafted some language that went to the Florida Association of Counties in regards to addressing the pre-existing conditions for the Medicare billing rates. A note on the email was that Broward County informed them that they also are working on another draft of legislation. It will be interesting to see what plays out when it gets closer to the times the Bills will get endorsed. Mr. Godwin informed the group that the Department of Juvenile Justice held a Rule Development Workshop dealing with the Detention Centers across the State of Florida. They are in the process of allowing the counties take over the Detention Centers facilities completely. Next month Marion County will take over the county detention center. They believe they can save money on that matter. Miami Dade and Hillsborough are considering doing the same thing. Mr. Godwin is concerned with the cost share increasing for the Counties that do not take it over. Our County is a four county detention center, if we pulled out it would leave three other counties to have to fund that. We budget 2.6 million dollars to operate it and with all the rules and regulations that go along with a juvenile center it may not be feasible for us to do that. He will watch this very closely because if push comes to shove and we have to take it over our share can go up to 5 million dollars. We would have to get very creative. JUDICIAL UPDATE – Judge Yacucci for Chief Judge: Judge Yacucci informed the group of an injury Tom Genung had and will have to have surgery on. He wished him good luck with that as Mr. Genung will be out a few weeks. OLD BUSINESS Public Safety Coordinating Council September 30, 2010 Page 6 NEW BUSINESS – There was public comment shared by a citizen. Ethel Rowland spoke of a White Paper published on September 27, 2010 by Cato Institute. An article was written by Jeffery Miron and Katherine Waldock about the budgetary impact on ending drug prohibition. She left a copy of it in each of the Commissioners mail box and it can also be found at Cato.org. She shared information on a recent study of 2009 where there were over 800,000 index crimes committed, 180,000 index arrests and 160,000 drug arrests in Florida. Ms. Rowland’s message was with the budget issues we face, law enforcement eventually will have to ask the public for help in managing the market of drugs and relieve them of that burden that is not effective. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Craft adjourned the meeting at 4:15 p.m. Submitted by, Carlene Filippini THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE HELD October 28, 2010