05/28/06

Activist rips DeSoto justice system

Inmates held too long in overcrowded jail, Grant says

ARCADIA -- The DeSoto County justice system too often incarcerates criminal defendants for a year or more without trials, subjecting them to inhumane conditions in an overcrowded county jail, until they accept plea deals.

That's according to self-described Arcadia civil rights activist Nancy Grant.

Several justice system officials said that, while they put little or no stock in the legal standing of Grant's claims, they agree the DeSoto County Jail is overcrowded and the county should do something to improve the justice system.

"The situation is that everyone in the jail is considered guilty and the only way they can get out is to take a plea," Grant said this week. "They're just warehousing these people until they take a plea."

Grant also complains that court hearings conducted via closed-circuit television between inmates in the jail and the judge are routinely held within the judge's chambers in "closed-door" sessions.

Court officials dispute the hearings are held "behind closed doors." Although they are held in a conference room within the judge's office, family members of the defendant and interested visitors can attend, said Lon Arend, assistant state attorney.

But the system puts a chill on the public's right to observe the hearings, Grant said. She has complained about the system in recent letters to court administrators and the Governor's Office.

Grant has also recently mailed motions for inmates to sign seeking to dismiss their cases. The motions cite violations to the inmates' rights to speedy trial.

She said 16 of the inmates had filed the motions by late April. They claim they did not waive their right to a speedy trial and were not brought to trial within 175 days as required by the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

However, DeSoto County Circuit Judge James Parker has taken no action on the motions, Grant said.

She said motions have since been filed seeking an order from the 2nd District Court of Appeals directing the DeSoto court to rule on the speedy-trial motions.

"The judge has to deny or grant the motions," Grant said. "He can't just ignore them."

Parker, through his judicial assistant, declined comment on the motions Wednesday. The judge cited a judicial canon barring judges from commenting on cases before them.

Grant is mistaken in her claim that the defendants have not waived their speedy trial rights, said Arend. They waived those rights when their attorneys requested continuances on their behalf, he said.

"Under the law, anytime the defendant asks for a continuance, (the speedy trial right) is deemed to be waived," Arend said.

Defendants can reinvoke speedy trial rights after giving notice to the court, Arend said. And his office is committed to meet their demands for trial.

"Everyone in the jail has the right to a speedy trial," Arend said. "If they want one, I'm happy to give it to them."

Arend also warned Grant may have a personal interest in attacking the justice system. One of her sons is currently in jail awaiting trial on sexual abuse allegations dating back 13 to 16 years.

Grant, however, said she would be advocating judicial reforms even if her son weren't in jail.

"I'm a civil rights activist," she said. "That's what I do."

Her son, incarcerated for about a year, has not filed one of Grant's motions.

Elliott Metcalfe, public defender for the 12th Judicial Circuit, declined to comment on Grant's complaints.

However, in response to questions about DeSoto County's justice system, Metcalfe said the county is not keeping up with its growing caseload -- and jail overcrowding is one result.

"All I can say is that DeSoto County is growing rapidly," said Metcalfe. "We're going through the same problems here in Sarasota, and Manatee."

Metcalfe said he frequently receives "jail mail" from inmates complaining they haven't seen their public defender -- or had enough action taken in their cases.

He pointed out that only two assistant public defenders are assigned to DeSoto County. They are doing "the best they can," he said.

However, unlike the other counties in the circuit, the DeSoto court system hasn't implemented enough programs to expedite justice, Metcalfe said.

"The way we do business is going to have to change," he added.

For example, in Sarasota County, the county established a "pretrial services" program. County employees advise judges on which offenders can be released under supervision pending trial.

Arend, however, said the DeSoto County court has implemented numerous programs to reduce the load on the jail and the courts.

The programs include one to release inmates under supervision via ankle monitoring bracelets and a county work program that provides an alternative punishment to jail terms.

Also, throughout the circuit, prosecutors and defense attorneys now also make "jail sweeps" once per week to consider pretrial releases or plea deals.

"I'm out of programs," Arend said. "We just need a bigger jail."

Another factor contributing to the overcrowding is the exorbitant cost of building a bigger jail, Metcalfe said.

As recently as 1996, DeSoto County last expanded its jail, located in a residential neighborhood at 208 E. Cypress Street. The expansion -- to a total of 148 beds -- seemed adequate for the future, said DeSoto County Sheriff's Capt. Martin McLure.

"With the closing of (the mental institution) G. Pierce Woods, with the crystal meth coming into our community, with some of the state laws being changed, those calculations have changed," he said.

Now, the Sheriff's Office assigns as many as nine inmates to a four-bed cell. Those without bunks are issued "boats," which are plastic bed frames with mattresses.

The inmates typically stuff the "boats" under the real bunks so that "only their heads are sticking out" when they are sleeping, said Grant.

"The conditions are horrid, deplorable," she said.

The crowded conditions have been so stressful they've contributed to two miscarriages by pregnant inmates, she said.

The Sheriff's Office has turned one cell into a bathroom, added kitchen equipment and provided inmates with more outside recreation time to accommodate the increased population, McLure said.

DeSoto County's Public Safety Coordinating Committee is expected to present recommendations to solve the jail overcrowding at the the county commission's next meeting, said McLure, a committee member.

The options range from expanding the existing jail to buying land for a bigger facility.

"My opinion is, we've outgrown this site," McLure said.

By GREG MARTIN

Staff Writer