The Madison County Jail has about 850 prisoners, for all types of offenses, including first-time drug offenders. The Sheriff seemed to know where your question was leading before I did - some States basically give tickets / notices to appear instead of taking them to jail. But Alabama says an offender needs to go to jail for a little while.

First-timers don’t stay very long though, most are out as soon as possible. A different source tells me about offenders who prefer jail to Drug Court (for some, jail is easier than counseling, classes, fines, testing, and monitoring).

About the economy - if Obama is elected, Huntsville is going to take a big hit - our economy depends on military spending. Things have been pretty good here under Bush.

A bad economy means that local Govt won’t have income to pay for extra popo and stuff. Vicious cycle…

I get by on once weekly garbage pick up and think most other folks probably can too. I don’t really have an opinion on the road projects. If I lived there the pay raise would likely irk me. There has not been a pay raise for most people in the private sector. Everything else has gone up, food, fuel, utilities but not people’s pay. If there is a pay raise for city employees then taxpayers foot that bill and right now that seems very unfair considering the economy.

How would more deputies decrease crime? Sure, more deputies means they might be able to catch more people committing crimes but adding more deputies won’t necessarily reduce crime. With the economy the way it is right now I predict there will be a huge rise in crime just about everywhere and more deputies will be added wherever money can be found to pay them.

I think everyone’s out of pocket because of the Albarran Sentencing (illegal convicted of murdering a police officer - State seeking the death penalty).

But what about the Madison County Budget? What do you think about once-a-week vs twice-a-week garbage pickup? What do you think about Madison County road construction and pay raises for employees?

HSV is suffering a sharp increase in crime (we are #83 in the US). What about more Deputies?

What is the main thing that people are in jail for there? Any idea? Are people there for non-violent offenses of another variety and just unable to bond out because they don’t have the money?

I met and had a long conversation with Judge Sherrod back in 2006 at the National TASC Conference. She has a good understanding of drug policy and the need for a major overhaul in that area of state law.

I’ve even seen people (rich and poor) with cocaine possession charges not go to jail.

Since drug court pays for itself, I’m thinking that no tax money would be saved by your idea.