New Inmate Tents

In 2004, the Brevard County jail was possibly the most overcrowded and dangerous jail in the State of Florida. The jail was originally built in 1985, designed to hold less than 400 inmates but was “double bunked” to hold 672. An annex was built next to the main jail bringing the inmate bed total to about 1,000. For over a decade, little was done at the jail while county population soared to over 500,000. As a result, by 2004 the 1,000 bed jail was extremely overcrowded holding as many as 1,400 inmates.

Jail over crowding has a rippling effect and creates multiple problems. Not only does overcrowding place inmates and correction officers in dangerous situations, it also has a negative impact on the entire community. By industry standards, a county with our present population should have a minimum of 1,700 beds, not 1,000. The Federal courts, the State courts and the criminal justice system will not allow overcrowding. As a result, many inmates who should remain in jail are released back into the community in order to ease the jail overcrowding. Additionally, many convicted criminals received lesser jail sentences simply because there was not enough room at the jail. Something no citizen wants to hear.

This early release of inmates is not only hard to accept, it has a negative affect on society. Criminals begin to believe they are immune from lengthy jail sentences due to overcrowding and the deterrent effect of incarceration is minimized. Additional jail space was critical in order to keep the criminals behind bars and to appropriately punish those who victimize the innocent and directly impact our quality of life. The problem however was the county was not in a position to support a 43 million dollar traditional jail expansion.

While campaigning for Sheriff in 2004, Sheriff Parker promised the citizens of Brevard County that he would try to incorporate the use of jail tents to bring costs down. Although some were skeptical about his plan, he believed it was a sound economical solution to a tough problem.

Prior to Sheriff Parker taking office, the County Commissioners had hired an independent consultant to make recommendations for a resolution to the Jail crisis.

The consultants concluded there was an immediate need to build 500 beds at a cost of 43 million dollars. We knew there were two problems with this plan. First, it did not give us the 1700 beds we so desperately needed, and second, it was too expensive placing a heavy burden on taxpayers.

As a result, Sheriff Parker introduced an alternative plan to use tents to reduce the costs of a jail expansion. The plan added 4 large tents, a total of 700 beds which included an additional housing unit for 328 persons with mental illness and medical issues. The plan also included a new infirmary, an expanded kitchen and a new laundry facility. The plan was not only put into motion, but with the use of inmate labor it was completed in record time. It is estimated that Sheriff Parker’s jail expansion plan resulted in a savings of 30 million dollars to the taxpayers of Brevard County.

For additional savings, Sheriff Parker converted existing non-essential civilian positions into 16 Correctional Officers and staffed two of the new tents. This action by the Sheriff prevented the County Commissioners from having to fund an estimated one million dollars in new positions.

We are proud to say that they tents have been a perfect long term, economical solution for the crisis situation that existed at the jail in 2004. The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office is getting a strong reputation throughout the state and with other Sheriffs from outside of Brevard County as a Sheriff’s Office that thinks outside of the box and gets the job done well with as little money as possible.