Like most Legislators, I have not been given the $120,000,000 report on the Jail.

In 2004 and 2005 when this Legislature approved of the last Jail project, however, I was your County Attorney.

From 2014 to 2022 I was a criminal court judge in the busiest City Court per Judge in WNY.

It is from that background that I have some initial questions and concerns about asking the approximately 120,000 people of Chautauqua County to foot the bill for a $120,000,000 Jail project

First, in 2005, a divided Legislature approved a $16,000,000 Bond issue that, among many other things, would renovate a “20-Bed Housing Unit” and build an addition to the Jail, containing a “Jail Kitchen” and a new “96-Bed Housing Unit.”

$16,000,000 just 20 years ago would be $30,000,000 today or only 25% of the $120,000,000 being presented to the Legislature.

Even $16,000,000 in 2005 was too much of a burden on the people of Chautauqua County for 11 Republican Legislators who voted against a modest .25% mortgage tax to help pay off the $16,000,000 Bond. (That additional Chautauqua County mortgage tax still exists today).

Second, 20 years ago, experts said Chautauqua County needed a 300 bed Jail. No one foresaw the day when first time shoplifters of a Slim Jim at the local 7-11 would not be sent to Jail on bail they could not afford. Things have changed and we need many fewer cells.

As a retired criminal court judge, my experience allows me to share with you that very few people in the Jail are in their 60s, 70s, or 80s. The prime Jail population is between 18 and 39.

In the last 20 years, the huge decline in our County’s population has been people between 18 and 39. Things changed, and we need many fewer cells than the experts foresaw in 2005.

Third, the allegation that because our oldest part of the Jail dates from 1939, it should be demolished and turned into a parking lot raises lots of questions.

Next week I will return to my alma mater, Jamestown High School, to hand out scholarship money. The Jamestown High School and its magnificent auditorium to which I will return, was built in 1935, 4 years before the oldest part of our Jail. No one, happily, is proposing tearing down the 1935 High School and making it into a parking lot, even though New York State government would probably pay 98% for such a mistake.

Is the problem with the 1939 portion of the Jail that it has been neglected for the past 20 years? By next month’s meeting, we Legislators should be provided the history of at least the last 10 years of how much money the County has invested in the 1939 structure to keep it maintained in a safe condition for inmates and for jail employees.

Fourth, if the 1939 structure should no longer be used to hold inmates, could not the building be renovated to house a myriad of other services and functions at the Jail?

Fifth, there is an opportunity here for intermunicipal cooperation with our neighboring Counties. The objection that it would cost a lot to keep bringing inmates back and forth from Little Valley to courts in Jamestown, Dunkirk or Mayville, can be alleviated by sending our sentenced inmates to our neighbors. The 20% or so of our inmates actually serving a sentence almost never need to be brought back before a judge.

During Covid, by Emergency Order, we criminal court judges were able to arraign defendants on TV from the Jail. We were able to hold pre-trail conferences with Defendants and their attorneys on TV, There was no Jail transport needs except for a time the Defendant was ready to enter a plea or to be sentenced. Routine matters, such as the defense attorney asking for an adjournment, were all handled virtually on TV. The State spent untold millions of dollars to make virtual court proceeding possible.

When the State declared the Covid Emergency over the State Legislature did not change our Criminal Procedure Law. Everything went back to the way it had been, no matter how foolish. All the taxpayer investment in virtual court technology was largely wasted.

This County can call on the New York State Association of Counties to fight for State Legislation that permits smaller, rural counties like ours to resume using virtual courts in at least Jamestown and Dunkirk, so that the costly transportation of inmates could be drastically reduced.

My lifetime experience in County government and in the criminal court, tells me we can and must do better for our residents than a $120,000,000 further investment in the County Jail,

Fred Larson is a Jamestown resident, former Chautauqua County Attorney, retired Jamestown City Court Judge and current legislator representing District 12 in the Chautauqua County Legislature. The comments above are Larson’s comments to the Chautauqua County Legislature during Wednesday’s meeting.