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,OCT 6 687 BOOK 69 FAGER-36 <br />prisoners too many. Therefore, the County has pursued <br />negotiations with Okeechobee County to lease space at the <br />Okeechobee County Jail, pursuant to the terms of the <br />attached Contract. Okeechobee County is willing to assist <br />our County provided we send no more than 25 prisoners at any <br />one time, and provided that we pay $43 per day per prisoner. <br />If the Board approves this Contract, Okeechobee County will <br />consider it on October 9, and, if Okeechobee County approves <br />the Agreement, effective Monday, October 12, we will have an <br />additional 25 beds available. <br />Commissioner Wheeler believed we need some discussion <br />because it appears there is some misunderstanding. A lot of <br />people think when Phase it is completed, it will solve our <br />overcrowding problem, but under the current rules, we can't house <br />felons in the minimum security pod; so, we will continue to have <br />an overcrowding problem. Some of the inconsistencies that really <br />irritate him are that we have beds that are empty right now <br />because we can't mix some prisoners. He believed at the last <br />count we had over 50 steeping on the floor, but the state has <br />empty beds in the juvenile facilities west of town and uses those <br />empty beds to make the numbers work for the federal judges <br />breathing down their necks. They are also housing prisoners in <br />tents, and while those prisoners may have a bed, he doubted the <br />tents are either air conditioned or heated very well. We, on the <br />other hand, have a brand new, modern, air conditioned facility <br />that is clean, and it seems ludicrous that we have to spend about <br />$1800 to ship our first group of prisoners to Okeechobee, which <br />cost could run $400-600,000 annually, all because we can't allow <br />felons to sleep on the floor on a mattress. We have an order <br />signed by Judge Smith to expedite sending these people to <br />Okeechobee, but this is only a temporary quick fix, and it isn't <br />going to solve the situation. <br />Commissioner Wheeler advised that he has talked to County <br />Attorney Vitunac about applying to the D.O.C. to get a waiver re <br />mixing prisoners, and if we can't get a waiver, he felt we should <br />go back to court and sue the D.O.C. to get the waiver. He <br />agreed there may have been some deplorable conditions in our jail <br />5 <br />8 <br />