The real fix for the jail overcrowding blues

I identified one simple fix for the Harris County jail overcrowding problem yesterday, but there is another, hopefully more permanent solution, one that can be implemented in six months' time. As Grits puts it:

As long as Sheriff Thomas, Chuck Rosenthal, and Houston's current crop of ex-prosecutor judges runs the show, however, such a review would be pointless. The problems were identified years ago, the solutions all proposed, but if the elected people currently in charge won't embrace them, what can you do?

Rosenthal is gone, though his philosophy will remain until someone with a different perspective is elected. The judges are a big part of this problem, probably the biggest. But no one in county government has held them responsible for their actions, choosing instead to throw money at it. Now the voters can and hopefully will do that job this fall.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 07, 2008 to Crime and Punishment