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Suncoast Pinellas News

Sheriff shows off closed jail units

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SUNCOAST NEWS STAFF REPORT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 21, 2009

LARGO - Pinellas Sheriff Jim Coats held a news media photo opportunity Wednesday but he was not showing off any newly captured cache of illegal firearms or load of seized drugs.

Instead, the county's top law enforcement officer highlighted four closed housing units at the Pinellas Jail complex.

The closed jail sections are part of a total of about $4.2 million in savings the Sheriff's Office is realizing because of a more than 20 percent drop in the Pinellas jail inmate population.

In addition to the closed units, according to the Sheriff's Office, the reduction in the average daily jail inmate census, from around 3,800 in 2007 to about 3,000 now, has meant:

•51 positions at the jail have been eliminated.

•Four corrections divisions have been reduced to three divisions.

•Two corrections captain, three lieutenant and five sergeant positions have been eliminated.

The Sheriff's Office attributes the "unprecedented" drop in inmate population to a cooperative effort involving the law enforcement agency, the State Attorney's and Public Defender's offices and the chief judge of the Pasco-Pinellas judicial circuit.

Earlier this month Coats announced he was taking a number of steps to reduce spending. These measures included the observance of a "zero overtime" policy, meant to save $2.5 million during the current fiscal year and $3.5 million next year.

The sheriff also said the agency would not observe the Good Friday, Veterans Day or Martin Luther King Day holidays through the end of the 2012 fiscal year, yielding a total saving of about $345,000 per holiday.

The Sheriff's Office is exploring other ways of reducing spending, it said in a news release issued Wednesday morning.

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