This is a tough topic to address, because everything that follows is going to make somebody look bad.
But there’s no way around it. The only way that Pike County could be in such trouble with its jail is a lack of attention at virtually every level of the law enforcement and judicial processes.
It’s easy to explain the 20-plus lawsuits that prisoners have filed about the county jail. That’s an unusually high number, but a certain number of people who have been accused of a felony and deprived of their freedom are going to object to their living conditions or claim they are being mistreated.
That’s what most of these lawsuits are about. We had a long story in Friday’s paper that listed a few details about 18 of the lawsuits, all of which have been filed in federal court.
Some of them are unintentionally funny, like the guy accused of murder who asked for $750,000 in damages so he could post bond. I guess it’s worth a try.
But two cases, where it appears that everybody failed to do their jobs, stand out.
In both cases, the prisoners should have been released from jail. But one man was held for eight months after a grand jury declined to indict him in a homicide. Circuit Judge Mike Taylor last week ordered him released.
The other man, facing a drug charge, was kept behind bars for more than 14 months during 2020 and 2021, even though an analysis of suspected methamphetamine said it was nothing more than salt.
Here’s a list of what had to happen in order to keep people in jail that way:
The law enforcement officers who investigated the cases didn’t follow up on getting the prisoners released. Maybe that’s not their job.
The people who run the jail didn’t get told that one guy didn’t get indicted and the other one had salt, not meth. Maybe they didn’t ask.
The sheriff, who supervises the people that run the jail, didn’t compare notes and recognize that at least two people were in his jail even though they were not charged with a crime. Maybe that’s not his job.
The district attorney’s office didn’t make sure that the non-indicted man got released. Maybe that’s not their job.
The public defenders, if any were involved in these cases, didn’t make sure their clients were released. Maybe that’s not their job, or maybe they assumed somebody else was handling it.
The two circuit judges, who ideally could monitor the jail, missed these two cases. Are there any others? They’ll be paying attention now.
The problem is much bigger than these two cases. Taylor released information last week that said as many as 50 current prisoners have been held for 90 days or longer without their cases being presented to a grand jury. Several prisoners in this situation have been in jail for more than a year, and many of the 50 have not yet had a public defender appointed to represent them.
I suspect part of the delay is because law enforcement has not given evidence to the DA’s office. Maybe officers are waiting on evidence analysis at the state level.
All this sounds like Monday-morning quarterbacking, which I dislike. We all miss things. On Friday, for example, right before I wrote this column, I realized I had overlooked a January email from someone who wants a price on printing their paper here.
Mistakes happen. Oversights occur. Most people who have a job are overworked. What’s troubling about this, though, is the sheer number of prisoners who have slipped through the cracks.
I am pro-law enforcement and pro-circuit court. Running a jail has got to be an impossible job. I respect and appreciate our judges.
But this is embarrassing. For starters, if so many people weren’t ignored and held for a possibly unconstitutional period of time, and if things had run more smoothly, maybe the Pike County jail wouldn’t be overcrowded.
Then there are the certain financial costs, which will fall upon taxpayers. The two inmates who remained jailed for months after charges were resolved in their favor will be at the head of the line.
There’s no legitimate defense. The only thing to do is seal the cracks that allowed all this to happen.
