The Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office operates the jail under the leadership of Warden Demille Topps, Assistant Warden Wally Cummings, and twenty staff.
The parish government funds the jail’s repairs and maintenance and the transportation costs of parish inmates. Security, feeding, daily operations, payroll and transportation of Department of Corrections inmates are the financial responsibility of the Sheriff’s office.
Our jail sleeps 144 inmates - this includes both parish and Department of Corrections inmates. They are housed in five cell blocks which include women, trustees, minimum, medium and maximum security. The jail are has two lock down cells which are used primarily for those with discipline problems and one cell to where an inmate with emotional instability can be placed under watchful eye for evaluation.
Overcrowding is a daily challenge. Let me briefly explain how this happens. While we prepared this article for publication, the head count in the jail was 142 inmates. Of those 142, only seven were women. The women’s cell block has a thirty bed capacity so that leaves twenty three unoccupied beds. Suffice it to say, some of the other cell blocks can quickly reach capacity causing overcrowding.
Court was in session and common sense tells us that by the end of the day, the Judges would inevitably sentence some folks to either Parish or State time. Once court adjourns there would new arrivals to process into the jail.
Since it is the Sheriff’s responsibility to carry out the order of the court, we must transfer inmates to other facilities or place some on eight to four work release. We are faced with this arduous challenge on an almost daily basis to keep these numbers down. In addition, we have no control over how many new arrests will be may be made or the number of individuals that may be brought in for probation or parole violations. We do the best we can to accommodate the population we serve to maintain public safety.
Operating the jail may seem elementary to some of you, but let me take you inside in an attempt to provide a better understanding in what daily operations at the jail entails.
When I was elected as your Sheriff I committed to improvements and changes inside the jail. We immediately went to work cleaning up, painting, repairing and covering exposed electrical outlets and correcting cell doors that wouldn’t lock. Together with the assistance of Parish President, Richard Thomas we accomplished everything that our meager budget allowed. We used trustee labor to stretch our dollars in order to provide humane conditions for the inmates.
The jail is funded on a baseline budget of approximately $20,000 annually which is provided by the Parish Government. It costs the Sheriff’s Department $3.50 per day to feed an inmate or $1,277.50 per year. The jail stays full so our food cost alone is approximately $183,960. for a year. We have one staff member in the kitchen supervising inmates who prepare all meals from scratch.
When we house Department of Corrections inmates we are reimbursed by the State $24.39 per day for each offender or $8,902.35 per year. Hypothetically, it would take twenty one Department of Corrections inmates to meet the feeding costs. In addition to feeding, we are tasked with providing and replacing mattresses, blankets, pillows, personal items, laundry bags, towels, slippers, medical care and clothing for inmates. Payroll is paid through our general fund. Had the proposed sales tax passed last year we would have been in much better shape financially to meet these ever growing needs.
To deal with these multiple challenges, Warden Topps often calls on parish jails throughout the State of Louisiana for any ‘hand me downs’ that they can spare to help fill our needs.
When an inmate is booked into the jail, a family member or friend can purchase and provide some items for the inmate within the first five working days of incarceration. Allowable items include: five pairs each of white boxer shorts, white socks; two pairs white thermals; one pair of shower shoes which can be flip flops or crocks; five white t-shirts (no muscle shirts); three white towels and wash cloths; three white sports bras (females); one white mesh laundry bag; one toothbrush; one soft cover Bible.
After five working days of incarceration has lapsed these items can no longer be brought in from the outside and it becomes the responsibility of the jail to provide these items at our expense.
Hygiene products must be purchased through the jail commissary or store. This can be accomplished by making out a money order to the inmate and mailing it to the jail or dropping it off in the money order box in the jail lobby. For those inmates that have no financial means or are indigent, hygiene products are provided for them at the jail‘s expense.
The great news is that our jail was recently awarded a grant for $18,000. Warden Topps has already spent the money buying inmate uniforms, blankets, mattresses, and other much needed inmate essentials.
We are excited for our order to arrive. New uniforms will differentiate the security levels of an inmate at a glance. Maximum security will wear red and white stripes, medium security will sport green and white stripes, minimum will wear black and white stripes, trustees will wear blue and white stripes and those on eight to four or work release will wear orange jump suits.
Less than a year after taking office, the Department of Corrections implemented some policy changes which affected our parish jail and how we are inspected.
In March 2009, the jail was inspected by representatives from the Department of Corrections under the new policy guidelines. Although we were commended for having made most improvements to the jail in more than twenty years, we were also informed that we needed to meet the new policy guidelines in order to be able to regularly house Department of Corrections inmates. In addition to the new guidelines, we were tasked with getting our number of inmates down to a more manageable level.
We were provided with a timeline in which to accomplish the changes. My staff and I worked hard but knew that due to space limitations and financial constraints it would be challenging if not impossible to fulfill some of the things spelled out under the new guidelines.
One of the mandates was that the jail provide a re-entry program. A re-entry programs entails classroom instruction to teach Department of Corrections inmates how to successfully reintegrate into society and hopefully reduce their chance of returning to jail or prison. This was a major challenge. The Washington Parish Jail had no available space to provide a classroom environment. As a matter of fact, the Sheriff’s office does not even have a conference room to host meetings or training.
Other mandates included us having to cover costs for all Department of Corrections inmates to administer monthly urinalysis screenings, testing for tuberculosis and HIV, and provide discharging inmates with two forms of identification.
By October 2010, we had worked diligently in cooperation with the Department of Corrections to find a feasible solution to meet the new policies. We managed to meet all of the criteria set forth by the State with the exception of creating and providing a space to host a re-entry program. Consequently, our Department of Corrections inmates were transferred out to other institutions.
We continue to house Department of Corrections inmates but retain them for no more than thirty days at a time before they are transferred out to other facilities. The only exception are those that are transferred into the jail awaiting court appearances or those that have just been sentenced by the court. The thirty days or less allows us to forgo the high costs associated with any medical testing or facilitating a re-entry program.
Running the jail is one of the harder jobs by far. Everyone working in the jail, including the warden cooperates daily to see to it that all inmate needs including time in the yard and transport are met daily.
My hat is off to the wardens and staff who work so diligently within the confines of a prohibitive budget and the day to day stress of keeping our numbers down. Thanks for all you do.
Robert J. Crowe
Sheriff, Washington Parish