Washtenaw County sheriff pushes back on jail lockdowns in budget-saving efforts
A suggestion on how the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office can save money in its new budget is stirring up controversy.
Sheriff Alyshia Dyer pushed back on cost-saving ideas from Washtenaw County commissioners that would cut mandatory overtime for corrections officers by increasing jail lockdowns during a Nov. 19 budget meeting.
The commission is letting Dyer figure out how she can cut $1.3 million from the budget. However, jail food and medical dollars will be withheld from the sheriff's budget and stored in the general fund until the sheriff's plan can be reviewed by the county finance department.
Dyer said a comment by County Commissioner Crystal Lyte during the budget meeting troubled her the most.
Lyte said, "Jail is jail. It is not a vacation. I believe we could put in place lockdowns two to three days a week, preferably on the weekends, whenever it's not the highest visitation," said Washtenaw County Commissioner for District 2 Crystal Lyte.
CBS News Detroit reached out to Commissioner Lyte for a follow-up on her comments and has yet to hear back.
In response, Dyer said, "I refuse to do lockdowns to save money. I will never do that. The only times you should be doing lockdowns in a jail setting is for safety issues and emergencies. I am not going to be balancing my budget on the backs of the most vulnerable people in our county, which are the people in our county jail."
Dyer says the best way for her office to save money is by having fewer people in the jail, and she says increasing lockdowns comes with its own set of issues that would make that tougher to do. She says no one knows that better than Sheriff's Deputy Arthur Thomas, who's experienced lockdowns firsthand.
Thomas spent 44 years in the Huron Valley Correctional Facility. When commissioners balked at the idea of using lockdowns up to three days a week to save money, he left the meeting out of emotion.
"It was extremely painful and hurtful because I've been in that situation," Thomas told CBS News Detroit.
He says more lockdowns won't lead to fewer costs, but instead more problems, including safety concerns for officers and those facing incarceration.
"When you lock them in those cells for hours and hours, day and night, I've seen the tension," Thomas said.
Thomas says lockdowns also make it harder for people in jail to participate in programs to keep them from returning to jail.
"Think of some of the mandated programs that are being cancelled, right, or the educational programs. You're preventing these guys from getting a GED. If not, your recidivism rate is going to be exactly that," he said.