FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Chere Avery, State Attorney's Office, (239) 335-2766
David Bennett, County Jail Management Consultant, (435) 649-1999

NEW STATE ATTORNEY'S POSITION WILL INCREASE JUSTICE SYSTEM EFFICIENCY/CONTAIN JAIL COSTS

FORT MYERS, Fla. (April 1, 2003) - The Board of Lee County Commissioners today approved funding for a state attorney's position that will expedite certain cases through the system - containing costs for future jail bed expansions.

An experienced prosecutor will be assigned to an Accelerated Case Resolution initiative.

 The programs goals include:
1. Prosecutor will increase by 60 a month (from a handful now) those cases - typically less serious felonies - suitable for accelerated case resolution and early disposition; 90 percent of theses cases are pre-trial detainees occupying jail beds.

2. Program should lead to pleas within 45 days of about 30 of these defendants, knocking an average of 49 days off each defendant's pre-trial jail stay. At about 300 defendants a year, that would be a savings, or cost containment, of 14,700 jail bed days at about $50 a day.

3. This efficiency should delay opening of the second story of the core jail facility at the Ortiz Correctional Site. Staffing of the second story is estimated at about $3 million a year.

The annual cost for salary and benefits is $138,368.

Funding will be accomplished through a Florida Statute that allows counties to appropriate funds for the prosecution of RICO offenses. The funding of a RICO position will then allow the State Attorney to assign an experienced staffer to the intake, charging, and Accelerated Case Resolution (ACR) program.

The volume of cases coming into the Lee County criminal justice system is increasing at a rapid pace. In the last year alone, bookings were up 11 percent over the previous year, capping a 75 percent increase since 1988. The average length of stay in the jail has been decreasing due to the efforts of Judge Hugh Starnes and the first appearance team. This Accelerated Case Resolution program should help with the goal of attacking this increase in new cases by making good charging decisions, and having early negotiation and accelerated resolution of cases.

The more efficient that the system can operate the longer that the available jail beds will be sufficient, saving the county millions of dollars in staffing and new construction costs.