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Committee to Elect Mark Stoops
4425 N Old St Rd 37
Bloomington, IN 47408

(812) 333 6328

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 14, 2008

STOOPS SAYS COUNTY CANNOT AFFORD NEW JAIL

Mark Stoops, Democratic candidate for Monroe County Commissioner District 2, believes that building a new larger jail is not a viable option for the county. "We simply can't afford it," says Stoops.

"Any new jail would have to be built to state and federal standards. We would not be allowed to build a jail with 350 beds. We would be required to build a 500 bed jail. If we build a 500 bed jail, we will fill it within 5 years," says Stoops.

Stoops, a former two-term County Council member, says that the county has difficulty covering expenses for the prisoners and jail staff we currently have. Doubling the jail population would mean Monroe County would have to come up with an additional $2.5 million dollars in revenue, not counting debt service on the $40-$50 million facility.

"We can borrow the money to build it, but there is no way we are going to be able to increase taxes to cover the additional $2.5 million dollars in operating expenses," claims Stoops. "Even if we could raise that much in additional revenue, is housing more prisoners really the best way to spend that money?"

Stoops believes a bigger jail is not going to help us tackle the problem of jail overcrowding for the long-term, and that there are ways to reduce the jail population from its current levels. During the late 1990's into the first years of this century, the jail population was growing at a rate of 10% a year, even as the county's population increased only 1% per year. In 2003, Stoops, who was the County Council's representative to the Community Corrections Board, joined with Republican Council-member Sue West to pressure the County Commissioner's to create a bi-partisan Monroe County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. The MCCJCC was comprised of the full spectrum of county government units and non-profit representatives responsible for criminal justice issues.

"We completed a system-wide review of the local justice system. Not only were we able to cut the jail population drastically, we were also successful at stabilizing the population and the rate of incarceration. Only in the last few years has the jail population started to creep back up," says Stoops.

Stoops believes we have only scratched the surface in taking advantage of other options to reduce jail overcrowding. "Investing in a Juvenile Treatment facility, a reform of the Probation fee system, and a focus on clearing pre-trial hearings will all reduce pressure on the jail. We must re-evaluate and improve systems to keep people with mental health and substance abuse problems out of the jail, and get them into appropriate programs with proven track-records of success. We also need a work release center with intensive programming for qualified prisoners to keep them from falling into the same habits that land them back in jail again and again. We don't need a new jail," says Stoops.

For more information Stoops has a website, ElectMarkStoops.com