Sarasota program aims to rehabilitate inmates, reduce jail population

SARASOTA, Fla. - At the Sarasota County Jail space is running tight. On Thursday morning there were 966 inmates even though operation status calls for 836.

"The last thing we want to do is build another jail. We are kind of bursting at the seams a little bit at the jail," said Sarasota County Commissioner Christian Ziegler.

A three-year pilot program funded by Sarasota County hopes to relieve some of the overcrowding. The program is called the Community Offender Rehabilitative Treatment Program or CORT for short.

"This is an opportunity for people who are not high risk to the community, but maybe have some issues and need to go through treatments to be diverted here and have access to that treatment and hopefully get back to being productive members of society," said Ziegler.

"Rehabilitation stops recidivism," stated Sheriff Kurt Hoffman. "There’s a lot of benefits not only to the individuals but the families and our communities."

Working with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, the state attorney, public defenders, the Department of Health and the clerk of court, First Step will welcome referrals and feature a secure 30 to 120-day residential treatment program.

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"We have case managers that will be helping them throughout the way," said Shawny Robey the CEO of First Step. "They will be linking them with psychiatric, mental health and services that will provide housing for them because we know all those components are pieces of that puzzle."

Getting help to those who need it.

"This program emphasizes that mental illness is not a crime. We have to stop treating it as a crime. It is a public health issue and the money needs to be dedicated to the public health component. This is a starting point, a good starting point," commented Public Defender Larry Eager.

Eager said with no simple solution in sight, the CORT Program is a start.

"This is just one arrow in the quiver so to speak. So that we can start addressing the matter," he said.

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