There was one aspect that was clearly foreseeable in 1990s. The judiciary has been operating under political guidelines that have become not only increasingly severe but rigid as well. Laws are characterized by zero tolerance standards, statutory minimum prison terms, and mandatory minimums for time served. Have the Alachua county commissioners provided a solution or contingency plan to accommodate this reality?

Another aspect of jail crowding is the dance between prosecutors and defenders orchestrated by the court. A dance guaranteed to add billable hours for the defense and justify additional staffing for the prosecution. Inmates have been held in the county jail over three years awaiting trial and then offered plea bargains with credit for time served to avoid trials. Inmates have spent years in the county jail-awaiting trial. A period that makes a mockery of the concept of a speedy trial.

One of the big questions is: why are so many more people in jail? People often reach a point when it is in their best interest to break the law for some economic incentive when there are no perceived alternatives.

The most often cited statistic is about 80% of the people that go to jail are unemployed. The battles fought by Alachua County to keep business out are the stuff of local legend and need no further comment.

Education is the basic prerequisite to any employment opportunity. However, Alachua County schools hold notable positions within the state. Of the 67 counties in the state of Florida, only 3 counties have a higher dropout rate than Alachua. Of 67 counties in Florida, only 13 have a lower graduation rate.

In the year 2002, 70 percent of all inmates going to Florida prisons tested below the 9th grade. This means that 70 percent of the inmates are not even eligible for GED training while in prison. Worse yet, 55 percent tested at a 6th grade or lower education level.

Let’s reverse engineer the statistics to see if they still hold true. During the year 2000 the US did not rank in the top 10 countries of the top 25 industrialized countries for math, reading or science. The leaders were Japan, Korea, Finland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, with none having an incarceration rate greater than 156 per 100,000.

Alachua County has an incarceration rate that hovers around 400 per 100,000. The incarceration rates go off the scale when 50,000 transient university students are pulled from the statistical base.

Is there a symbiotic connection between economic opportunities, education and jail rates? Yes. Is this connection obvious? Yes. Has anything been done about it in the last five years?

Our commissioners have a history of avoiding hard decisions. Cases in point were the construction of the current jail and courthouse. Both were done by direction from the judiciary when the situations became intolerable. Why do we elect commissioners when judges make the decisions?