Several County Commissioners expressed a desire to move away from CoreCivic management of the Silverdale Detention Center during Friday’s Hamilton County Security and Corrections Committee meeting.
Commissioner David Sharpe, who oversaw the meeting, advocated for an end to CoreCivic’s involvement with county prisoners. He said that over the last few years, this conversation has been going on in cities across America.
“One reason is that there is no incentive to reduce incarcerations and potentially an incentive to increase them, a financial one not necessarily for taxpayers or county governments, but to private corporations who are profiteering from this process.”
Sheriff Jim Hammond characterized the relationship between the county and CoreCivic as “amenable” over the years. However, he said he has heard the calls for a move away from privatization.
“Do I think we can do a better job? I think we can do at least an equally good job, and the profit motive would not be there,” said the sheriff. “We are at a time where we are going to have to make a serious decision about bringing up the standards of the facilities in Silverdale, but also downtown.”
The sheriff mentioned that there have been discussions about possibly having just one facility run by the sheriff’s office, which would save the county money. He said $20 million has been appropriated for what he called “phase one”. However, he did say there is still more research to be done.
“Something is wrong with making money off putting people in jail. Something is ethically wrong when in the interest of the almighty dollar that people are being put behind bars,” said Commissioner Warren Mackey. “Yes, a lot of people need to be behind bars and we do want safe streets. But it is troubling to think about all of the families that have to pay a lot of money and costs.”
County Mayor Jim Coppinger told the commissioners that CoreCivic has no say in who is arrested or jailed. “They obviously pay their employees less than what we pay our jailers, so yes they make a profit just like anyone else with a contract. But they have no control over who gets arrested, and they release people when the judge says they should be released.”
The mayor also spotlighted the county’s alternative sentencing programs, such as drug and mental health court. He told the Commissioners that around 500 people are involved in this program, where they wear ankle bracelets rather than being incarcerated.
Commissioner Katherlyn Geter brought up misconduct by wardens at Silverdale as one of the reasons she is in favor of ending a partnership with CoreCivic. She said she favors the county taking over Silverdale because of these issues.
“One concern that has been raised for a long time is the culture that has existed in terms of their staff and how they treat inmates, so can you speak to the relationship the sheriff’s office has with interacting with and overseeing CoreCivic,” asked Commissioner Jeter.
“We do have some oversight over there,” said Sheriff Hammond, who stated there are eight people from the Sheriff's Department at Silverdale. “Several months ago, I requested they remove a warden from over there because I was not pleased with how things were going. That was done and we’ve had good cooperation with CoreCivic.”
He also said low wages is an issue when it comes to CoreCivic employees, with Sheriff Hammond saying “you get what you pay for.” He said getting “the right folks” out there is a priority, and he believes that if his management is more involved, there would be different results. However, he also praised many of the programs CoreCivic has implemented in regards to re-entry.
“One of my goals is to take a look at some of my fellow sheriffs throughout the United States and their ability to move away from just incarcerating and move toward job training, rehabilitation, GED training, and things that would reconnect people with their families.”
Commissioner Tim Boyd momentarily hopped on the call and shared his opinion on the matter. He, too, said he wishes for an end to the county’s contract with a private organization running the Silverdale jail.
“I think there is no one present in this meeting that doesn’t understand that I’ve been an advocate for the county take that facility over,” said Commissioner Boyd. “I’ve never been an advocate for private possession of detention in this country. My position is that the government takes your liberties away and places you in a detention center, then the government should be in charge of maintaining that center and your well-being.”