Tag: Floyd Bonner

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Juvenile Judge Declares “Mission Accomplished”

CREDIT: Toby Sells

Toby Sells

Memphis and Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael declared “mission accomplished” during his annual state of the court address Friday.

Memphis and Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael declared “mission accomplished” during his annual state of the court address Friday, touting last year’s ending of federal oversight.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ended its six-year review of the court in October. The oversight began in 2012, after an investigation found that the court discriminated against African-American children, violated due process laws, and that the detention center was dangerous.

”I thank you, personally, for your all of your outstanding efforts over the past year, and declare mission accomplished,” Michael said at the Shelby County Crime Commission office Friday. “The Department of Justice has placed us in compliance with the memorandum of agreement to the point of its completion and ended federal monitoring of the juvenile court of Memphis and Shelby County.”
[pullquote-2] The move to end that oversight outraged some in Shelby County government. During a press conference in October, Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner said that while the oversight was over, “there were items that remained to be addressed.”

“So, this whole notion that it was a successful closure, I think is somewhat fabricated,” Turner said.
[pullquote-1] Michael said the court is recognized nationally as a model court by the National Council of of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, of which Michael is a board member.

”We’ve earned this not only by exhibiting care and compassion on a daily basis, but we also strive to become better by taking risks,” Michael said. “A model court doesn’t mean we’re a stand-out. It means that we experiment. If something doesn’t work, we move on and find something that does work. That’s what makes us a model court.”

Michael outlined five key components — made in collaboration with DOJ officials — that will carry the court forward.

Two of these were groups that will meet continually to improve the court. The strategic planning committee and the county-wide Juvenile Justice Consortium will have “access to the courthouse and the families we serve,” Michael said. The group will be able to “see our successes and aid us in shaping any shortfalls we may encounter.”

A community outreach program “will allow every citizens to get the answers to their questions about what we do and how we do it.” For this, the court will hold public meetings throughout the county.

Michael said the court will also continue to work with two consultants hired by Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris to help the court ”maintain best practices” and to “reduce (disproportionate minority contact.”

Michael said he fully supports Mayor Harris’ and the county commission’s project to build a new juvenile court facility.

In a line that seemed to be aimed at court employees, Michael said, “let’s use criticism and unfair judgments about us as step-in stones that ahead of this court.”

Michael ended his address with a quote from industrialist Henry Ford:

“Coming together is a beginning,” Michael said. “Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

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Female Population On the Rise at Shelby County Jail

CREDIT: Google Maps

Google Maps

The female population in the Shelby County Jail has grown by about 50 percent over the last three-and-a-half years, according to the latest jail figures.

In January 2015, the jail had 201 female inmates. By August 2018, the jail had a daily female population of 299. Over those many months, the population has never been higher than 300 or lower than 194.

Anthony Buckner, the interim Public Information Officer for newly elected Sheriff Floyd Bonner, said the issue is complex. The jail houses many inmates detained by different law-enforcement agencies across the county. But maybe the biggest problem, he said, was “the length of time it takes to conclude felony cases, particularly post-indictment.”

Josh Spickler, executive director of Just City, said the increase is “remarkable.”

“It led me to question what we’re doing that impacts women so differently,” Spickler said. “I don’t necessarily have an answer.”

Shelby County Sheriff’s Office

But Spickler guessed that it may have something to do with the fact that women typically earn less than men and have less access to wealth than men do. Shelby County Sheriff’s Office

Spickler said incarcerating a woman is “much, much worse” in Memphis because of the hole it leaves behind in the woman’s community. Women are typically the primary care-givers here and typically the breadwinner.

“The domino effect of this on families, and children, and homes is much more destructive than if this was happening to men, because the primary role that women play children’s lives,” Spickler said.

Buckner said Sheriff Bonner “is greatly concerned about the increase” and is now working on a plan to fix it. 

“We obtained a grant and are receiving assistance to develop a case management system to address (the length of stay issue),” Buckner said. “We are working with the judiciary, prosecutors, defense counsel, pretrial services, specialty courts, and many others on issues such as increasing the use of misdemeanor citations in lieu of arrest, bond amounts, increasing the use of monitors, and accelerating the appointment of counsel.”

As of October 2017, 219,000 women were locked up in America, according to a report from the Prison Policy Initiative. This makes the United States “one of the top incarcerators of women in the world.”

Prison Policy Initiative

Of those, 96,000 were in local jails, like the Shelby County Jail. Of those in local jails, 58,000 had not been convicted of a crime. They sat waiting on court dates or could not buy their way out of jail on a bond.

The Prison Policy Initiative said poverty was, indeed, the likeliest indicator of why women face pre-trial incarceration.

“Women who could not make bail had an annual median income of just $11,071,” according to the report. “And among those women, black women had a median annual income of only $9,083.

“When the typical $10,000 bail amounts to a full year’s income, it’s no wonder that women are stuck in jail awaiting trial.”  Shelby County Sheriff’s Office

Spickler said when people sit in jail not because they’re a danger or they’re a flight risk, they only sit there because of poverty.

“They cannot buy their way out of that jail,” he said. That is really, really, dumb — for lack of a better word — as a use of our jail.”

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

Another Big Shoe Drops with Lane’s Entry in Sheriff’s Race

CREDIT: JB

JB

The voice on the other end of Dale Lane’s cell phone is his chief endorser, County Mayor Mark Luttrell, tied up in Nashville but eager to speak, via microphone, to Lane’s kickoff crowd.

Close on the heels of Democratic candidate Floyd Bonner’s kickoff of his campaign for Sheriff two weeks ago at the Racquet Club, another big shoe dropped last Thursday when county Homeland Security director Dale Lane, a leading Republican candidate for trhe office, had his own kickoff affair in Millington.

Lane’s was a homier affair, held at the Mid-South Auction Group & Marketplace in Millington, but, like current chief Deputy Bonner, who was endorsed by his boss, outgoing Sheriff Bill Oldham, Lane had some bigtime backing, too. His came from County Mayor Luttrell, who served two terms as Sheriff himself before his election as Mayor in 2010.

An obstacle to Lane’s announcement of the Luttrell endorsement was the fact that the Mayor had been in Nashville and was still en route back to Memphis. That logistical problem was solved via some everyday technology: Lane got Luttrell on his cell phone and had him speak to the assembled crowd by holding the phone to a microphone.
JB

Candidate Lane also gets a boost from wife, Karen, and baby grandson Braxton Allen Lane.

Luttrell noted the candidate’s impressive credentials, which included several important command positions, including that of chief inspector of the Department’s patrol division and supervision of the Department’s swat team and its training division.

And finally, the Mayor said, Lane had served “as our point person in Shelby County,” as director of preparedness and Homeland Security.

In his own remarks, Lane, a devout Christian, made a point of proclaiming, as he always does in his public appearances, the chief importance in his life of his faith and his family. He reminisced about having begun his law enforcement career 30 years ago as a member of the Millington police force.

Lane said one of his chief preoccupations as Sheriff would be that of youth violence, for which he proposed a multi-layered approach involving partnership with the faith-based and business communities, intervention via youth activities, and direct suppression, by means of street-level enforcement.

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

Democrat Bonner Kicks Off His Sheriff’s Race

CREDIT: JB

JB

Candidate Bonner addresses his large crowd at the Racquet Club.

One political race that looms before the voters of Shelby County as more than usually competitive is that for Sheriff, and, though more candidates, both Republican and Democratic, are sure to make a claim upon the job in the 2018 election, there is general consensus on the front end that the candidates to beat are Republican Dale Lane and Democrat Floyd Bonner, both highly credentialed..

Lane, a former Deputy Sheriff, is current director of the Shelby County Office of Preparedness, while Bonner is Chief Deputy Sheriff, the first African American to hold that office.

In a reversal of the cross-party situation in 2014 when incumbent Sheriff Bill Oldham, a Republican, was assisted in his reelection bid by a prominent Democrat, longtime political broker Sidney Chism, this time Democrat Bonner can count on the public support of a major figure from the other party, no less than term-limited Sheriff Oldham himself.
JB

Bonner with incumbent Sheriff Bill Oldham,who endorsed him.

Introducing Bonner to a massive and diverse crowd of several hundred at a combination fundraiser/campaign kickoff in the Racquet Club Tuesday night, Oldham lavished praise upon his chief deputy for his career progress through the ranks and his accomplishments and proclaimed, “I’m going to do something that my predecessor [then Sheriff, now County Mayor Mark Luttrell] didn’t do for me, I’m going to fully endorse Floyd Bonner.” The crowd anticipated Oldham and, before his sentence was halfway through, interrupted him with loud and sustained applause.”

Continuing his introduction with a vow to “put the right man in that chair at 201 Poplar,” Oldham then beckoned Bonner, and the two men embraced before Bonner made his own remarks, beginning with a reciprocal tip of the hat to Oldham, acknowledgment of his family members who were present, and a statement of gratitude at the turnout, making special note of  the clergy in attendance (no small factor, inasmuch as Lane, too, can boast of support from the religious community).

“I love coming to work every day. There’s no other place that I’ve ever thought about working at but the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office,” said Bonner, a veteran of 37 years in the Department. “I’m not tired yet, I’ve still got a little in the tank, and I enjoy getting up every day.”

Bonner mentioned his role in “being in on the ground floor” of the Department’s expanding responsibility for Juvenile Court detention and noted that he had started his ascension in the Department all those years ago with service in the County Jail, nobody’s idea of a glamor assignment and a piece of experience that he cites by way of encouraging new recruits.

“I tell them now, ‘I started just like you did, I started out slick-sleeved and wild-eyed and didn’t know what to expect….But I’ve had a great career, I love what I do….There’s nobody in this race with more experience than me,” said Bonner, who concluded optimistically, “You know, we are going to win!”