My favorite childhood story was about a herd of hippos that played hide n' seek. The baby hippo's best hiding place was on a ledge just above – though in plain view of – the herd's elders, who never found the baby because they never looked up. Obvious often means overlooked.
And so it is with jail overcrowding in the Circle City. County jails lackspace for everyone who's been arrested. Last year there were almost 2,000emergency releases to free space.
Led by a group of mostly Republicans, including Marion County ProsecutorCarl Brizzi and Superior Court judges Cale Bradford and William Young, there's a move to greatly expand the county's criminal justice budget, buildanother jail facility, expand or build a new juvenile center, elect morejudges, and – if they get their way – build a brand new criminal-justicecenter with even more capacity to turn suspects into government prospects.
The more prospects they can harness and herd, the more money taxpayers willgive them.
Anyone who has watched Brizzi, Bradford or Young recently on Indianapolistelevision knows how callous they are toward the accused. Young, whopresides over the county's drug court, says the defendants are from 'asludge pool." By his own count, he has personally released at least sixpeople who have then murdered others.
Presiding Superior Court Judge Bradford chairs the Marion County CriminalJustice Planning Council, which also includes Brizzi and Mayor BartPeterson. The Council is preparing an expensive criminal justice wish listto present to the City-County Council. At its January meeting, Bradfordnoted that the county's newest jail facility, built in 1997 to handle themain jail's overcrowding, was itself overcrowded.
This latest situation shows the obvious, which again won't be discussed atthe next planning council meeting – that a new jail is not the solution tothe latest bout of jail overcrowding. As experience shows us, a new jailwill only be a standing invitation for politicians and judges to fill it.
Money is not the solution, either. Since 2001, the county's criminal justicebudget has almost single-handedly been responsible for the county's whopping40 percent budget increase, from $126 million to $176 million.
The folks in charge are overlooking the obvious answer to jail overcrowdingand the legal backlog: Quit arresting so many people!
Go back to doing government's fundamental job of protecting us from realcriminals – people who steal our cars, break into our homes, defraud us, orare violent – not just our immoral neighbors who offend us with their pettyneeds and vices.
And quit herding people who aren't real criminals through our criminaljustice system – which is for real criminals. Then, these people who havenot harmed others can keep their jobs, support their families, contribute tothe economy and pay taxes instead of forcing taxpayers to pay for theirunneeded food, lodging and supervision in jail.
This will leave space to segregate violent and dishonest people who can'tlive socially with the rest of us. Isn't that the point of our criminaljustice system?
If Indianapolis is true to national statistics, we spend nearly half of ourcriminal-justice resources fighting vice instead of crime. The distinctionbetween vice and crimes is fundamental. As legal scholar Sir WilliamBlackstone wrote, 'In all cases, the crime includes an injury."
The Indiana Constitution grants jurisdiction to Indiana courts based on suchharm or injury. 'All courts shall be open, and every person, for injury doneto him in his person, property, or reputation, shall have remedy by duecourse of law." (Article 1, Section 12)
This does not grant courts authority to punish those who merely offend us.Article 1, Section 37 of the Constitution prohibits government fromdepriving people of liberty "otherwise than for the punishment of crimes."(See also Article 1, Section 13 and 19.) If Brizzi, Bradford and Youngenforced this simple covenant, jail overcrowding would likely vanishovernight.
Every time we waste our resources policing, prosecuting and imprisoningpotheads and prostitutes, then car thieves, burglars or murderers go free.Plus, we lie about being true to the constitution.
Why is this so hard to understand or discuss? Why are the elders of our herdoverlooking this practical, moral and constitutional consideration that isso utterly obvious?
