Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-10-2000 ArticlesIM -lIsssx VIEWPOINTS Does the county need another jail.? opened h e r door, Anna Embree didn't know it could change her life. But her visitors — wear- ing Iowa City police badges — thought differently. When she first spoke with them on Jan. 29, Embree said in court on Sept. 11, she was deceived. She said the two officers wanted to discuss an incident in the neighborhood. She let them in her home, worried about her neighbors. Then Christopher Akers and Jon Luellen, part of the Iowa City police Special Crime Action Team, changed the subject. The two policemen began asking about marijuana — about whether she sold it, if she had ever used it and if she had any paraphernalia for it. Embree told the pair that she smoked it a long time ago. Then, she said, she was deceived again. According to her court testi- mony, she was assured that she would- n't be JOSEPH taken to PLAMBECK jail that evening or have her home searched if she gave them every- thing in the home that was marijuana -related. Remembering the polices actions against her friend, Eric Shaw, the 34-year-old book conservator dug through a laundry hamper and pulled out a thermos. Inside was about one gram of marijuana and a pipe. Citing probable cause, Akers and Luellen then searched her South Johnson An influx of alcohol- and dnJg- related bookings is the primory cause of the overcrowding. Street home for the next 20 to 30 minutes. They found noth- ing more. The two said the thermos' contents would be sent to a lab for testing. Five months later, she was arrested for possession of mar- ijuana for the February inci- dent. Brahma story is not unique. And, in fact, We becoming more commonplace. Not incidentally, the Johnson County Jail is overcrowded. The Johnson County Board of Supervisors is pushing to build a bigger one. If voters pass the jail propo- sition on Nov. 7, the county would build a $20.3 million, 256-bed jail in a 53-acre field west of Highway 218 and north of Melrose Avenue. The jail would replace the current one on South Capitol Street, new downtown, and provide 164 more beds. It would have 750 percent more beds in Johnson County than were available in the 1970s; the jairs population has grown by approximately 25 percent. The funding would come through an additional proper- ty tax for all Johnson County residents. An hill" of alcohol- and drug -related bookings is the primary cause of the over- crowding. About 2,000 total bookings were made at the x Johnson County Jail in 1982. In 1998, the number reached almost 7,000. Between 1990 and 1998, it nearly dou- bled. During this time, arrests for victimless crimes soared — especially public intoxication and possession of marijuana. From 1993 to 1999, public. intoxication numbers rose more than 50 percent, from 1,259 to 1,931. Drug -posses- sion bookings skyrocketed almost 1,800 percent, from 42 to 748. According to the coun- ty attorneys office, nearly 80 percent were marijuana-relat- ad. In the same period, the number booked for crimes against another person, such as murder, assault and rob- bery, has hardly changed. Just ask Embree. The drug war is a major cause of the increased book- ings. Ever since this domestic ware earliest beginnings dur- ing the 1930s, it has sought to control citizens and has changed the role of peaceofh- cers. Instead of to serve and protect, their role has become to search and seize. As a result, in Iowa City, which accounts for 61 percent of the bookings in Johnson County, the police are now more aggressive. Better - equipped and stronger in forte, they are marching mili- tantly for underage drinking, public intoxication and drug use. According to official records, they will dig, and have dug, through trash cans looking for evidence to assize. They will act, and have acted, on a single anonymous tip. And they will be, and have been, deceiving and demand- ing. Just ask Embree. Most of these actions we legal under the law. This is largely because of policies and court rulings that have under- mined the Fourth Amendment, the protection against unreasonable search and seizure. As a resulQ the authorities believe we need a new jail for people such as Embree — harmlesa, productive, even talented. And they will go to far lengths to fill it. They want us to pay for it, too. But building a new jail would only exacerbate the existing problem. Instead, the police, courts and legislators need a shift from these oppressive tactics. Right now, however, people such as Anna Embree — your sister, friend or classmate — we being arrested and receiv- ing excessive punishment for victimless offenses. And, like Embree, it may stem from something m inno- cent as worrying about their neighbors. As for Embree, her case is still going through the courts. She faces possible time in jail. Joseph Plashed is a alcolusinist