Administrative Order 12-14: Use of Alternative Sentencing by the Sheriff of Canyon
County in Canyon County
Whereas,
Canyon County, in collaboration with local law enforcement agencies and the courts
of the Third Judicial District, has endeavored to maintain an inmate population
in the Canyon County Jail that meets the requirements of the Idaho Jail
Standards and complies with the terms and spirit of the Consent Decree, Order,
and Judgment entered in the United States District Court for the District of
Idaho, in Case No. 1:09-CV-00107-BLW; and
Whereas,
such Consent Decree established the functional capacity of the Dale Haile
Detention Center at 266 inmates (214 male/ 52 female); and
Whereas
the Canyon County Sheriff previously established a “target population” (that
population at which the jail is best able to classify and house inmates in
accordance with sound detention practice and Idaho Jail Standards) of 240
inmates (188 male/ 52 female); and
Whereas,
the Canyon County Sheriff, upon his identification of a sustained upward trend
of female inmate population during 2012 such that the jail has been regularly
at or over its functional capacity for housing female inmates, has now
established a target population of 234 inmates (188 male/ 46 female); and
Whereas,
while the target population of the Canyon County Jail may accurately reflect
the relationship between certain structural limitations of the facility and the
Sheriff’s perceived ability to meet his constitutional and statutory
obligations given such limitations, it has no relationship—proportional or
otherwise—to the volume of criminal cases administered by the Third Judicial
District or the quantity of offenders potentially subject to the local incarceration;
and
Whereas,
the judges of the Third Judicial District and the Canyon County Sheriff have
agreed that current circumstances require the supplementation of the framework
established by Administrative Orders 08-3 and 11-1 and the 2009 Consent Decree to
afford or memorialize an enhanced authority by which the Sheriff might, in
limited circumstances, exercise direct control over the daily population of the
jail without compromising the ability of a Judge to fashion fact-dependent and
offender-specific sentences for execution and enforcement.
It
is Therefore Ordered that:
Excluding
cases in which a defendant is ordered to serve a mandatory minimum jail
sentence as required by the state legislature, the local incarceration
component of any judgment entered pursuant to the jurisdictional authority of
the Third Judicial District shall, when the population of the Canyon County
Jail is in excess of the target population, be considered satisfied and its
balance subject to completion under an alternative sentencing option offered by
the Canyon County Sheriff when at least 80% of such time has been served. The
Canyon County Sheriff agrees, in each such instance, to provide a dated,
written letter signed by the Canyon County Sheriff or his Chief Deputy directed
to the presiding Judge, the Defense, and the Prosecution referencing a named
defendant by case number and averring that the jails’ population is then over
the established target and that the named offender has served at least 80% of
imposed incarceration and that the balance of such sentence will be served on
an alternative sentencing program administered by the Sheriff.
For
all judgments wherein a victim(s) has been identified in the case, the Sheriff
shall inform said victim(s) at the commencement of the jail sentence that the
defendant will have the alternative sentencing option as provided herein. If
the victim(s) objects, then the defendant shall serve his/her entire jail
sentence with no alternative sentencing option available to the Sheriff.
Dated this 15th day of November, 2012.
Signed
by Thomas J. Ryan, Administrative District Judge
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