From 2009-2015, Palm Beach County taxpayers spent more than $1M to jail low-level marijuana offenders
Palm Beach County
taxpayers spent more than $1 million over a seven-year span to jail
people whose most serious offense was being caught with a small amount
of marijuana, according to an analysis completed this week by county
staff.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and the County Commission have been at odds over an ordinance that gave deputies the option of issuing a citation, similar to a traffic ticket, for possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana.
Bradshaw has no plans to issue citations under the ordinance passed by the commission in December. He is the only sheriff in South Florida who has taken this position as local boards move to loosen pot penalties.
The county's Criminal Justice Commission estimated how much it cost to jail small-time offenders from 2009-2015. Taxpayers spent $1.1 million over that period, averaging $158,856 a year, according to the report.
County Commissioner Priscilla Taylor said she wants to withhold money from the sheriff's budget to offset the cost of locking up marijuana offenders instead of ticketing them.
"We should not be paying for something that we've already said we don't want to see happening," she said.
The Sheriff's Office is reviewing the report to verify if the numbers are accurate, Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the agency, wrote in an email.
In a recent radio interview, Bradshaw defended his decision to not use the County Commission's ordinance.
Most people caught with less than 20 grams of marijuana (about three-fourths of an ounce) are given a notice to appear in court and avoid a trip to jail, he said. Going to court connects them with drug treatment, and they have an opportunity to wipe the offense from their record if they follow the proper steps, he said.
Under the county ordinance, offenders would pay a $100 fine to settle the matter, and it would not be placed on their criminal record. Citations can only be issued twice under the county's ordinance, and repeat violators face arrest.
The report also provides a snapshot of who is being jailed for smoking pot. County researchers examined jail booking data from Jan. 1, 2009, to Dec. 31, 2015, factoring in the estimated daily cost of $135 to house an inmate to produce the cost estimate.
Almost half of the people jailed for low-level marijuana offenses are black, according to the report. Blacks make up about 17 percent of Palm Beach County's population, according to the 2010 census.
An analysis in 2013 by the American Civil Liberties Union found blacks are nearly five times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana in Palm Beach County, despite national surveys showing they use marijuana at about the same rate as whites.
This latest report demonstrates marijuana citations would save taxpayers money, said Mark Schneider, president of the Palm Beach County Chapter of the ACLU of Florida.
"If the economics of the issue alone do not cause the sheriff to reconsider his rejection of the commission's ordinance — and other communities to adopt something like it — the racial disparities in enforcement certainly should," Schneider said. "This would be an easy step toward improving relations between our police and the community."
The median age of offenders was 24, and the vast majority — 86 percent — are men. Fifty-five percent of the jailed offenders were arrested by the Sheriff's Office and the rest were brought in by city police departments.
Offenders spent an average of about five and a half hours in jail.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and the County Commission have been at odds over an ordinance that gave deputies the option of issuing a citation, similar to a traffic ticket, for possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana.
Bradshaw has no plans to issue citations under the ordinance passed by the commission in December. He is the only sheriff in South Florida who has taken this position as local boards move to loosen pot penalties.
The county's Criminal Justice Commission estimated how much it cost to jail small-time offenders from 2009-2015. Taxpayers spent $1.1 million over that period, averaging $158,856 a year, according to the report.
County Commissioner Priscilla Taylor said she wants to withhold money from the sheriff's budget to offset the cost of locking up marijuana offenders instead of ticketing them.
"We should not be paying for something that we've already said we don't want to see happening," she said.
The Sheriff's Office is reviewing the report to verify if the numbers are accurate, Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the agency, wrote in an email.
In a recent radio interview, Bradshaw defended his decision to not use the County Commission's ordinance.
Most people caught with less than 20 grams of marijuana (about three-fourths of an ounce) are given a notice to appear in court and avoid a trip to jail, he said. Going to court connects them with drug treatment, and they have an opportunity to wipe the offense from their record if they follow the proper steps, he said.
Under the county ordinance, offenders would pay a $100 fine to settle the matter, and it would not be placed on their criminal record. Citations can only be issued twice under the county's ordinance, and repeat violators face arrest.
The report also provides a snapshot of who is being jailed for smoking pot. County researchers examined jail booking data from Jan. 1, 2009, to Dec. 31, 2015, factoring in the estimated daily cost of $135 to house an inmate to produce the cost estimate.
Almost half of the people jailed for low-level marijuana offenses are black, according to the report. Blacks make up about 17 percent of Palm Beach County's population, according to the 2010 census.
An analysis in 2013 by the American Civil Liberties Union found blacks are nearly five times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana in Palm Beach County, despite national surveys showing they use marijuana at about the same rate as whites.
This latest report demonstrates marijuana citations would save taxpayers money, said Mark Schneider, president of the Palm Beach County Chapter of the ACLU of Florida.
"If the economics of the issue alone do not cause the sheriff to reconsider his rejection of the commission's ordinance — and other communities to adopt something like it — the racial disparities in enforcement certainly should," Schneider said. "This would be an easy step toward improving relations between our police and the community."
The median age of offenders was 24, and the vast majority — 86 percent — are men. Fifty-five percent of the jailed offenders were arrested by the Sheriff's Office and the rest were brought in by city police departments.
Offenders spent an average of about five and a half hours in jail.
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