This past year has been very much like the Scream Machine at Six Flags Over Georgia. Slow uphill climbs, heart racing down hill speeds with twist and turns that surly has many screaming, thus the name Scream Machine. And that’s just like the Augusta government.
Before one hot, and sometimes horrendous, issue is settled, along comes another one even more horrendous.
The Land Bank out of control freewheeling spending, but in Augusta’s government that is the norm for the people in charge. The Weed School being bought for two to three times what it’s worth is but one small bucket of an ocean’s worth of examples.
Next, it’s the Charles Webster Detention Center and another taxpayer burden to come up with $25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, you get the picture, million to build two more pods. Most of us know it won’t end there. The other units will have to be rebuilt as well as the inmates have virtually demolished them.
Now with the jail everyone is pointing the finger at Sheriff Richard Roundtree. Yes, he is the one in charge of running and operating the jail. Is he the sole blame for the jail to be overcrowded, in great disrepair and the almost hourly inmate crime?
The answer is no. There is more than enough blame to go around.
First most of the blame has to be placed squarely on the shoulders of the residents of the facility. If the use of guns to settle scores or arguments would stop, the population would go down.
If robbery and theft would stop being a quick and easy way of getting a dollar the jail population would go down. If the selling and trafficking of drugs would stop, the population would go down. If just plain old respect for each other would be the norm instead of the opposite, the population of the facility would go down.
Let me put this bluntly, crime has no one race, gender, sex identity, political or religious view. All participants that are inclined toward that pursuit do so at their own will. It’s the path that individual has chosen.
The judicial system also shares blame. The police do their sworn duties and go after and arrest the offenders. Then it becomes the district attorney’s job to prosecute the arrestees, and this is sometimes where it becomes a game of not so much true justice but more of a game of one upmanship and deals.
To have someone in a facility for as many as five or six years without having gone to trial is to say the least reprehensible. Now, I’m certainly no attorney or Constitution expert but doesn’t the 6th amendment guarantee the right to a speedy trial? Guard against unreasonable delay? Maybe an attorney with more insight and knowledge about this matter can shed some light and education as to how this situation can occur.
Mayor Bob Young wrote in a letter to TAP editor several suggestions that would help move along the justice system that would help decrease the jail population. Use the courthouse for night and weekend court sessions. Bring in senior-status judges, special prosecutors and contract attorneys. Even revise the bond procedures.
Young’s suggestions seem to be well thought out and most likely would help, but the question is will the ego driven elected officials listen?
The Augusta commission could be of great help if they would get over their self importance and stop feuding with and denying reasonable requests from the Sheriff.
While serving as the Chairman of the Public Safety Committee as district 10 commissioner, I witnessed first hand the disconnect between the commission and the sheriff.
Augusta-Richmond County deputies have historically been behind in the pay scale compared to the surrounding agencies. When Sheriff Roundtree came before the commission asking for money to raise the pay, he was reminded that he had a large number of vacancies and he should use that unused money for pay increases.
Well, this creates another problem. There is then no money to pay new hires and the vacancies remain unfilled.
The sheriff came to me once with an idea he wanted to present. In the jail there is a bank of phones that the inmates use and, of course there is a fee for that use. Roundtree wanted to retain the generated funds from those telephones.
The sheriff also wanted to operate the canteen where the inmates buy personal items and food snacks, etc. and retain that profit. He wanted to use the proceeds for maintenance on issues that the jail was experiencing, such as repairing the electronic locks, cameras and a number of other issues.
The commissioners would not approve this. The proceeds had to go into the city coffers and then be allocated to the sheriff’s office. The commission also ruled that an outside vendor would remain the supplier to the canteen and keep the profit.
Another time Roundtree came with a request for funding approval to purchase 30 or 32 FLOCK cameras. These are the cameras that read license plates and send alerts to law enforcement where the vehicle is located or tracking.
These cameras have helped apprehend individuals on the hot list. It took a couple of tries to get the commission to approve funding. The amount was around the $32,000 mark.
These cameras have paid for themselves several times over, but it took the sheriff a devil of a time to secure the funding which is probably less than the amount the folks at the land bank spend on cocktails and caviar.
As you can see, there is more than enough blame to go around. Instead of pointing more fingers than a porcupine has quills, how about listening to each other and be receptive to others’ ideas?
With the violence that occurs, the overcrowding and the understaffing of the Webster Detention Facility, all must be diligent that the 1971 occurrence at Attica does not occur here in Augusta.
Just a thought but, since Augusta’s government receives both state and federal monies, doesn’t that mean that the GBI and the FBI both can investigate the use of those funds?
This past year we have all seen a lot of questionable behavior from our local elected officials as well as department directors. We all must continue to press for answers.
Next year should prove to be interesting. I already have many topics and subject matter to share with our TAP readers.
I would personally like to thank all of you readers for your thoughts and wish each and everyone a very happy and tranquil New Year.
Folks, as always, you just can’t make this stuff up.
