Grand jury asks for banishment for repeat offenders

ALBANY, Ga. — Wrapping up its July term, members of the Dougherty County grand jury have recommended that local judges do more to utilize banishment of repeat offenders in the county.

The list of recommendations was filed with the clerk of court for Dougherty County Wednesday and will be presented to Dougherty County Commissioners Monday.

In it, the jurors say that given that 90 percent of the occupants at the Dougherty County Jail are repeat offenders, and each costs taxpayers $45-$50 a day to house, judges should consider alternate means of sentencing where applicable — including banishing non-violent, repeat offenders from the county.

“Rather than locking them up at taxpayers’ expense, whenever possible, ‘lock them out,’ — of Dougherty County,” the document states. “We would encourage use of banishment as punishment.”

Grand jurors also recommended increased use of electronic home monitoring commonly referred to as house arrest for nonviolent offenders, saying that it would cut down on crowding at the jail and save money because the offenders would be using their own utilities and medical care.

Jurors also recommended that the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office and the school system partner to make jail tours mandatory for all fifth-grade students up through high schools to serve as a deterrent to crime.

Teens and preteens should also be made to observe a countywide curfew from 10 p.m to 7 a.m. on weekdays and 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weekends, the document states.

The recommendations are common and typically come at the end of a trial term when the grand jurors’ tenure ends.

During the July 2010 term, this particular grand jury was presented with a total of 140 indictments. Of those, 137 were returned as “true bills” and advanced to trial or legal action, while three were returned as “no bills,” meaning the jury didn’t believe there was sufficient grounds to pursue criminal charges.

In further efforts to cut costs, the grand jury recommended that the county continue to use inmate labor rather than higher-paid county employees to perform work around the county.

It also recommended that all of the leaders in Albany and Dougherty County, as well as the community itself, work to tackle the issue of substance abuse with a focus on reducing high school dropout rates, fighting gangs and controlling teen birth rates.

“We would encourage and support any community collective efforts to attack these problems,” the jurors state.