Paying for the jail, but not examining the real problem.

Mark brought it up, and there's a lot to talk about in terms of money. The Facebook thread is here.

Floyd County Council, Commissioners at odds over how to pay back jail debt, by Daniel Suddeath (Hanson's Old White Guys Just Like Him Journal)

NEW ALBANY — Floyd County leaders are split on how to spend millions of dollars in interest from hospital sale proceeds, as governing bodies have passed opposing resolutions with repayment of a bond to renovate the jail hanging in the balance.

However, in light of recent weeks, I think our junior editor Bluegill wrote something as or more important.

In previous meetings, the Floyd County Sheriff reported that, like most jails in the country, half or more of the jail population at any given time is there not because they’re particularly violent or dangerous but because they can’t afford bail. Reform of our bail system - something the prosecutor’s office can do - would consistently cut our jail population roughly in half. Any county official willing to spend that much money because a prosecutor won’t reform a corrupt class-based system ought to be run out of office, as should the prosecutor.

And if you look at arrest numbers in New Albany, they tend to skew heavily Black well beyond population percentages. Do you think any politician in this county has the guts to address that publicly and head on?

So, Floyd County clearly has a class-based “criminal justice” system disproportionately aimed at Blacks. And what are we arguing about? Which tax to use to pay for expansion of it.

Wait -- do you mean not one of Bill Hanson's old white male columnists thought to explore this side of the story?

For more: Overcrowded jails, wasted tax dollars: Let's reform cash bail in Kentucky — and the nation, by J. Herbert Nelson.