City changes course on prisoner drop-offs planned for Vista (Columbia, SC)

The State ^ | 8 November 2013 | CHRIS WINSTON

[Gamecock]

Context: Freed inmates to be dropped at CPD headquarters in the Vista (Columbia SC)

Starting Friday night, something like a dozen inmates freed from the Richland County jail will be dropped nightly at Columbia police headquarters in the Vista rather than at the downtown bus terminal.

The change in drop-off sites is part of a temporary plan devised by interim Police Chief Ruben Santiago to deal with longstanding complaints about inmates who wander from the bus terminal at Sumter and Laurel streets, where they are free to roam around the city.

Already, the new plan is causing worry among businesses in the thriving Vista entertainment corridor, which attracts a million visitors yearly, Sarah Lewis, director of the Vista Guild, said Tuesday.

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COLUMBIA — Columbia’s plan to release former prisoners at the police department in the Vista concerned some business owners this week.

But Interim Police Chief Ruben Santiago on Friday announced a new plan meant to satisfy business owners while also providing important services to former detainees at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

The new plan is scheduled to go into effect Friday evening. And Santiago said he would be there in person to ensure everything goes smoothly.

“I want to monitor it for myself,” Santiago said. “We want to make sure it’s going to work.”

The plan is an expansion of the current partnership with the emergency shelter’s provider, Christ Central Ministries, to provide a central location for recent prisoners who need immediate emergency services. Previously, prisoners were released after-hours into the city’s center, where Santiago said temptations could run high and no services were available.

At the emergency shelter, Santiago said former prisoners would be provided access to transportation within a 17-mile radius, food, phones and a place to rest. The initial plan to bring folks to the city’s police station in the Vista was simply a “stop-gap” measure that often would leave to former prisoners being taken to the shelter anyway. The long-term plan was always to drop off former prisoners at the emergency shelter, so the process was simply sped up.

The Vista Guild, an association of business owners who represent the popular section of downtown, supported the new plan.

“We fully support this newer version of the plan and CPD's support in protecting our patrons,” the association responded from its Twitter account.

Santiago said the expanded partnership would be monitored daily and weekly meetings held between the group organizing the shelter, city officials and police. After some undetermined amount of time, he hopes this will become the final plan.

Additional patrols will be stationed in the area in the coming days and weeks to make sure police are highly visible, Santiago said.

[Gamecock]

Ping

[Gen.Blather]

I’d say if they’re not putting them in a halfway house then they’re asking for them to reoffend and come back. How are they supposed to eat? And, getting a job is probably close to impossible. (I had a friend who had employed dozens of ex-cons. Then they gave him a psychotic with “anger management issues” without telling him how dangerous this guy was. The psychotic smashed all of my buddy’s teeth out without warning or cause. When my buddy found out they’d lied to him that was the last guy he took.)

[melissa_in_ga]

Thanks for the ping. I’m glad they decided not to drop them at the Vista.

[Gamecock]

Hey. You have a cute, tiny daughter at USC.

I have a tall, pretty 16 year old. She and her friends go down there after swim practice to grab a bite at Chipotle. I don’t want criminals wandering around The Vista.