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New jail computer drags out booking

A new computer to speed up booking times has done the opposite, but officials say they are getting used to the system and doing better.

By STEVE THOMPSON
Published October 14, 2005

LAND O'LAKES - During the race for sheriff last year, challenger Darlene Greene criticized the Pasco Sheriff's Office for dipping into the Inmate Welfare Fund to buy a new computer system for the county jail.

The jail's commissary profits go into the fund, and it is supposed to be used for things that benefit the inmate population.

Asked about this, sheriff's officials provided a list of ways the $789,989 computer system would benefit inmates. The first: It would speed up the booking process and cut down on the time prisoners would spend in temporary holding cells.

So far, two weeks into the new system, it has done anything but.

A look at old arrest reports shows that it often took a few hours between when the handcuffs went on and when an inmate was officially booked into the jail. Often only a couple.

During the past two weeks, some arrest reports show lag times of 12 hours.

"Definitely during the first week of conversion we had some extended times like that," Capt. Brian Head, who supervises jail operations, said Thursday. "But now we're getting used to the system and we're doing better."

Head said the problems are part of anticipated growing pains, and that he expects the booking times to come back down to normal soon.

State regulations require that inmates spend no more than eight hours in a holding cell, sheriff's officials say. To stay in compliance during the past two weeks, Head said, booking deputies have rotated prisoners from holding cells to a more spacious waiting area with telephones and a television. Meals are brought at the usual meal times, and toilets are available, he said.

Keith Coggins left the county jail Thursday with a bag over his shoulder. He said it was 12 hours before he got booked in last week after his arrest on a charge of violating his sex offender probation. Others waited longer than he did, he said.

"A wooden bench and a toilet," he said, describing his holding cell. "And about 20 guys packed in like sardines."

Coggins, 23, said there wasn't room on the bench for all of them.

"That's a good way to start an altercation with somebody," said Coggins, who was convicted on a 2001 lewd and lascivious battery charge on a girl 12-15. "Somebody gets up. A guy's been standing there for three hours, wants to sit down, he grabs a seat. The other guy's like "Hey, what are you doing, buddy?' "

There's a toilet in there with them, Coggins said, but no one gets a shower or brushes his teeth.

"They got this new computer system going and none of them know how to work it," he said. "It's taking them forever to do anything."

Sheriff Bob White signed a contract in February 2002 with a Colorado company that installed the computer system. Officials have been preparing for the new system since then, Head said, and deputies underwent much training before the system was switched on the weekend of Oct. 1.

"I can tell you that the process was extremely stressful on the deputies," Head said. "But I'm extremely proud of the way that they confronted the issues, dealt with the issues and pressed on to get the job done."

Aside from the learning curve, Head and a sheriff's spokesman said one of the snags of the new system has been its communication with the county courts' computer system, which is antiquated after about 20 years of use.

One of the officials in charge of the computer system's implementation, Capt. Thomas Hennessy, retired Oct. 3, just as the system was put in place. Head said he couldn't "correlate" the system's problems with that departure.

Once the kinks are worked out, Head said, the new system should make jail processes that rely on keeping track of inmates much more efficient. The system eventually will allow mug shots and booking information to be posted on the Internet, he said.

"We're experiencing less problems, we're resolving problems, and we're making very good progress," Head said. "So I expect in the very near future we'll be back to normal."

[Last modified October 14, 2005, 01:40:20]