177 Prisoners Released Or Moved From Escambia County Jail After Flood

June 14, 2012

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has released details on exactly how the inmate population at the Escambia County Jail was reduced after weekend flooding on the lowest level of the facility.

The Sheriff’s Office, State Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office and the chief judge for the 1st Judicial Circuit are currently reviewing several inmate cases to determine if any would be eligible to be released.

The Sheriff’s Office provided the following list of inmates that were transferred to another facility or had sentences reduced following the flood:

  • 50 — were eligible to be released for time served and were released
  • 48 — were transferred to state prison (already sentenced to state prison and their transfers were expedited)
  • 31– were bonded out by various bail bondsmen
  • 4 — posted their own cash bond
  • 18 — were being held for other agencies and they were transferred to those various agencies
  • 15 — were federal inmates and were released to the U.S. Marshals
  • 6 — were nolle pros
  • 1 — was sent to work release
  • 1 — was sent to Keeton Correctional Facility
  • 1– was sent to Pathways for Change
  • 1– was sent to probation/parole
  • 1– was purged (paid monies which were owed for civil commit order)

“At no time has an inmate been released who was serving a sentence. Releasing and transferring inmates happens on a daily basis,”  according to Sgt. Mike Ward, public information office for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. “The Sheriff’s Office does not have the authority to release inmates beyond our statutory authority.”

Comments

19 Responses to “177 Prisoners Released Or Moved From Escambia County Jail After Flood”

  1. Lisa Watson on June 19th, 2012 11:32 pm

    Morgan needs to be released come the next election. Keep the Momentum? The county has gotten worse and the deputies seem less likely to protect and serve than ever before. I don’t want THAT momentum to keep going

  2. Richard on June 16th, 2012 8:15 pm

    Morgan is not being blamed for the weather he is being blamed for not being prepared.

  3. Just sayin' on June 16th, 2012 12:13 pm

    @Sandra,

    No rose colored glasses here. Just the common sense to know that people are accused of things all the time that they didn’t do and for anyone to ASSUME otherwise is asinine.

  4. Joanna on June 15th, 2012 7:52 pm

    well from what I see the people in jail needs to have better liveing condtion.s then what thay have ? It.s doesn.t matter why there in there .Everyone one has there day in court .not everyone is guilty so why should they has to live like animal.s ?? but mr morgan doesn.t care he.s more for what he can get money wise then makeing sure the men and women are takeing care of the jail has no hot water not enough food toilets running over next there is gonna be an out break of some kind of desesas and then what ????? a hole lota law suits and morgan cant blame any one but his self so any one who makes a remark about whats going on and thinks its ok for the way the jail is being run then your crazy cause you wouldn.t be saying that if it was someone you new in there they have rights to

  5. Anti venom on June 15th, 2012 2:24 pm

    Natural disasters happen. That’s why we have insurance. To blame Sheriff Morgan for this, is just plain…..(fill in the blank). Perhaps I misread the article, but I didn’t see anyone “getting out of jail free”. You might have an arguement with the 6 Nolle Prosequi inmates. They would fall under the Emily Litella catch phrase “Never Mind”.

  6. northend voter on June 15th, 2012 7:25 am

    Citizen is dead on. We are in trouble with Morgan at the helm. How can someone like Morgan, who had done nothing prior to getting elected thinks he knows it all. He told the county commissioners he would look at their budget, wrote a letter to the Governor giving him pointers on running the State. Totally defiant to Federal Judges who are appointed for life. His last piece of recent “hey look at me” is his letter to the editor, “I have stood on the beaches of Normandy, prayed at the chapel there,” etc…it is all about his ego. Alot of us are nauseated at his rhetoric.

  7. jennifer on June 15th, 2012 4:18 am

    I AGREE BUT THEY GET CHARGED TO BE IN THERE. THEY HAVE TO PAY A DAILY FEE

  8. No Excuses on June 14th, 2012 6:42 pm

    @ Sandra,

    Not all 177 were released – only those due to be released were turned out. The others were transferred to other facilities, or to the agency responsible for them. READ the article before commenting!

  9. Sandra on June 14th, 2012 6:33 pm

    I want a pair of those rose colored glasses that “just sayin” is wearing.

  10. Just sayin' on June 14th, 2012 4:37 pm

    Sandra on June 14th, 2012 2:43 pm
    @ Mike O. Yep, thats 177 people out commiting more crimes right now…I promise ya.

    Well, Sandra, so much for your promises. Statistics estimate that 2.3 to 5% of all death row convictions are of innocent people. That would mean that out of 177 people, probably 4-8 people are innocent of the alleged crimes. Then there are the ones who are in there because they, say, had a ticket they couldn’t pay because they lost their jobs. Or even parents who owe child support and can’t find a job so warrants were issued for their arrests. What crimes do you think they’re out there committing?

    @Grandjoy,

    JAIL is NOT for punishment. PRISON is for punishment. Jail is to house people who are waiting to go to court, to go to prison to begin their punishment, to be transported to other facilities and in a few cases, to serve a short punishment for minor crimes. MOST of those in jail have not been convicted of anything and therefore, they must, by law, be considered INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY.

  11. lmb on June 14th, 2012 4:35 pm

    no if u can read some of them was sent to prison and some was due to be out…

  12. citizen on June 14th, 2012 4:21 pm

    Well, I see that we are still trying to figure out how to fix the Sheriffs lack of knowledge on how to respond to disasters? I don’t remember one time even after the hurricanes that McNesby let inmates out due to flooding. I also don’t remember all this equipment getting flooded under him. He had his faults just as we all do, but it’s things like this past little storm that brings out the stupidity in folks. It is apparent that this Sheriff has no clue how to handle even a small storm. I hope we don’t get a hurricane before August 14th. Please vote Powell.

  13. Sandra on June 14th, 2012 2:43 pm

    @ Mike O. Yep, thats 177 people out commiting more crimes right now…I promise ya.

  14. Bed Space on June 14th, 2012 2:32 pm

    Bed space is available at other County Facilities (road prison), but Sheriff Morgan would loose some money if moved from the jail, therefore lets keep the jail packed or wait for a flood to help the Sheriff to make up his mind.
    Makes no sense. County is County. Greed is Greed.

  15. northend voter on June 14th, 2012 11:04 am

    Your getting a good clue from this last flooding episode that Morgan has no clue what he is doing! No excuse for all of these new vehicles and motorcycles to be flooded. I can imagine total confusion if a hurricane hits here.

  16. grandjoy on June 14th, 2012 10:33 am

    Wow!!!! so now they will be praying for floods…get out of jail pass. What makes them so special? They should have to live with the temp. water problems,part of life good people on the outside deal with it. No help from the state. You are painting a wonderful, carefree life with no worries while you are in jail. There was no life threats just water after all jail is for punishment. Thanks for the tax payer accommodations while the tax payer suffers flood damages with no place to live. Give them a cup and tell them to start bailing,clean up the flooded jail.

  17. Wondering...... on June 14th, 2012 10:03 am

    If 50 people were sitting in jail that were eligible for release why were they sitting in jail and the tax payers feeding them. Why does it take a flood to get all of this done, should it not be done regularly to prevent over crowding and cost ?

  18. Really on June 14th, 2012 9:29 am

    Amazing! Tax dollars at work????? Looks like to me about 131 inmates should’ve not been thier anyway. Keep inmates in the system, I guess they have to do something for everyone to keep their jobs. Or is it the paper work that is sitting on someones desk.???? Can’t understand how all of sudden these inmates could be released to the public. Just blows my mind.

  19. MIKE O. on June 14th, 2012 8:32 am

    177 less people sucking up our tax dollars. Good job!