Oak Ridge Today

Chief Jailer Avery Johnson named Jail Administrator of the Year

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Anderson County Chief Jailer Avery Johnson, second from right, is pictured above with Sheriff Paul White, right; Chief Deputy Mark Lucas, second from left; and Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally. (Submitted photo)

Anderson County Chief Jailer Avery Johnson, second from right, is pictured above with Sheriff Paul White, right; Chief Deputy Mark Lucas, second from left; and Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally. (Submitted photo)

 

Anderson County Chief Jailer Avery Johnson was recently presented the Jail Administrator of the Year award by the Tennessee Corrections Institute, or TCI.

The Tennessee Corrections Institute is the state agency that regulates local jails and workhouses. The award was presented at the annual TCI Jail Issues Conference in Franklin, Tennessee.

Also attending the award ceremony were Anderson County Sheriff Paul White, Chief Deputy Mark Lucas, Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, and Johnson’s wife Diane with other family members.

The Jail Administrator of the Year award is awarded to a worthy candidate who must be a full-time jail administrator responsible for operations within a local correctional facility, a press release said. The nominee must have demonstrated a high level of professionalism and dedication in the area of corrections within the agency and community. They must have initiated or promoted programs enhancing the operations of a correctional facility within the State of Tennessee. They must also have contributed toward the overall mission of TCI in working to develop a professional corrections environment for today and tomorrow.

Chief Jailer Avery Johnson began his career with the Anderson County Sheriff Department in February 1981. [Read more…]

Alternatives to Incarceration director to speak at Lunch with the League on Tuesday

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The director of Alternatives to Incarceration in Anderson County will discuss the program—which is designed to save taxpayers money by reducing jail overcrowding while helping inmates—during a Tuesday afternoon lunch, a press release said.

The director is Mary Ann Young. She is the featured speaker at Lunch with the League at noon Tuesday, March 7, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. The church is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The press release said Alternatives to Incarceration provides a variety of work, vocational training, and counseling services.

The public is invited to the Tuesday lunch meeting. [Read more…]

Alternatives to Incarceration meets April 29

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There will be a meeting to discuss updates to the Anderson County Alternatives to Incarceration program on Wednesday, April 29.

The meeting starts at 4 p.m. April 29 at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton in Room 118 A.

The notice was sent by Mary Ann Young, the new director of the Alternatives to Incarceration program.

Anderson County hires Alternatives to Incarceration director

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Anderson County Detention Facility

The Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton is pictured above.

Information from WYSH Radio

Anderson County is one step closer to having a full-time director for its Alternatives to Incarceration program.

Last week, the committee in charge of finding someone to head the department unanimously recommended hiring Clinton resident Mary Young to fill the position. She will be responsible for finding ways to reduce the jail population through programs that could include expanded use of electronic monitoring devices, “day reporting” (described as a way to have offenders work on community projects during the day while still sleeping in their own beds at night), and offering more classes like anger management to help offenders deal with some of the underlying issues that led to their arrests and subsequent incarcerations.

Young will operate out of the Anderson County jail and officials say that she has worked in a similar program in California. She is expected to begin work on February 2. [Read more…]

Alternatives to Incarceration to discuss hiring a director

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Anderson County Detention Facility

The Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton is pictured above.

The Anderson County Alternatives to Incarceration Committee will discuss the hiring of a director for the Alternatives to Incarceration Department during a meeting in Clinton today (Tuesday, October 21).

The meeting starts at 4 p.m. at the Anderson County Detention Facility at 308 Public Safety Lane.

For more information, call Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Captain Larry Davidson at (865) 457-7100.

Anderson Commission considers small tax cut, re-established alternatives to jail

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CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission could officially approve a budget tonight that lowers the property tax rate by one-third of a penny, and commissioners will consider re-establishing the Alternatives to Incarceration program under the direction and control of the Sheriff’s Department.

Commission will also consider selling 22.4 acres in the David Jones Industrial Park, with a 4.27-acre swap. The land would be sold for $13,500 per acre, with 2.9 acres removed from the original parcel to be retained by Anderson County.

The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in Room 312 at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton. [Read more…]

Anderson budget cuts tax rate; officials assure sheriff new jailers are covered

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CLINTON—The Anderson County Commission endorsed a budget Thursday that lowers the property tax rate, gives employees a day off, and is supposed to provide enough money to pay for jailers hired in the past year while allowing the sheriff to hire new ones for a jail addition that could open later this year.

The budget would also restore some funding for the relatively new Alternatives to Incarceration program, which Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank had proposed cutting by 80 percent, and add money to cover the cost of increased health insurance premiums for county employees.

The budget was endorsed in a 12-1-1 vote during a special meeting Thursday, the second this week. It could officially be adopted during the County Commission’s regular meeting on Monday. [Read more…]

Letter: Cutting alternatives to incarceration may save money now, but will cost more later

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To the Editor:

Is it wise to downsize the Alternative to Incarceration (ATI) program? Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank wants to cut funding for this program by 80 percent. The program was intended to reduce the jail population by focusing on drug addiction in particular, thus preventing the need for building more expensive jail space in the future.

For those who have not kept up with these developments, the ATI program was put in place in Anderson County a year ago by Mike Baker, a longtime officer in the Iowa corrections system. His analysis of Anderson County’s constantly increasing number of jail inmates points to several problems, one of which is “recidivism” (when a former prisoner returns to jail).

He commented that “Anderson County has a tremendously high recidivism rate. When I looked at the jail stats this morning, the average number of ‘priors’ for the 348 inmates incarcerated was nearly 10, while the average age of the inmates is 31. Those numbers indicate that inmates between the ages of 18 and 31 are being arrested on average nearly once each year.” [Read more…]

Guest column: County mayor proposes restructuring alternatives to incarceration

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Terry Frank

Terry Frank

Created by an Anderson County Commission resolution in 2011, the Alternatives to Incarceration, or ATI, program has been batted around as a political hot topic. Though there appears to be disagreement regarding the program, there seems to be agreement on the purpose, intent, and merit of the program. As is the case with most programs, debate centers on implementation.

After much study of ATI as currently structured, I offered steps in our budget proposal to allow us to step away from the mistakes or misunderstandings that took place at the program’s inception in 2011, restructure with more modest and measurable goals, and allow room for growth in the number of clients the program will serve. Small steps forward will allow for much needed growth in trust and credibility of the program itself. The program also needs more realistic, tangible goals to achieve success, and it needs a cooling-off period to allow the mission to depoliticize.

Success requires the confidence of participants, that is, ATI stakeholders like our public defender, our district attorney general, our judges, and our law enforcement community.

The proposed restructuring emphasizes the original mission of the program—offering true alternatives to alleviate jail overcrowding—but it also redirects 1.62 cents on the tax rate to immediate needs: more detention officers. [Read more…]

Follow-up: AC budget debate continues

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Commission will hold a special-called meeting on Monday, June 10, at 6 p.m. in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton to continue their discussions of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year that begins on July 1.

The main hurdles to passing a budget so far have been finding funds for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department to hire enough jailers to adequately staff the jail expansion scheduled for completion later this year and what to do with a program aimed at keeping the chronically overcrowded jail’s population down. The Sheriff’s Office has requested money to hire 34 jailers but so far funds for only 15 have been found. [Read more…]

Anderson budget: Funding for jailers, jail alternatives program obstacles to budget plan

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Information from WYSH Radio

Last week, the Anderson County Commission held a public hearing on the budget, and the biggest obstacles to having a fiscal plan in place for the new fiscal year are finding funding for the Sheriff’s Department to adequately staff the soon-to-be-completed jail expansion and what to do about the embattled alternatives to incarceration program.

The Sheriff’s Office has requested funding for 34 jailers but as it stands now, the budget contains money for 15 jailers. [Read more…]

Anderson officials develop plan to hire 15 jailers for jail expansion

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Terry Frank

Terry Frank

CLINTON—For now, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank has dropped her proposal to cut funding for the county law director, and she has worked with the budget director to put together a plan to hire 15 new jailers for a jail expansion that could open in November.

But it’s less than half the number of new jailers requested by Anderson County Sheriff Paul White for the 212-bed expansion of the Anderson County Detention Facility, which could be completed in November.

“They understand the budget constraints,” Frank said of the Sheriff’s Department. “In this tight economy, we’re doing the best we can.” [Read more…]