Transients rarely serve time, nor pay for crimes

Fifteen of the most chronic offenders downtown have racked up 876 arrests and more than $176,000 in fines and court costs.
Willie Bell
Frank Bowles
Clinton Scott
Keith Brogan
Bernard Patrick

Currently 4 Responses

1.
i hope your happy. mr bell was severly beaten this morning on the street as a result of a heated discussion over your article. but something tells me that nobody there will be losing any sleep over it. i can't speak for all of the people arrested over and over again by the police (which alot of times is just plain harrasment.) but some of them like mr. bell need help not jail time. lets face it ,the whole penal system is a sham and needs complete overhaul but who is going to tackle that? if you lock a man up and he does not learn anything well the whole prosess was waste of time.
al dawson
Wed 7th Oct 2009
at 3:13pm

2.
The City and the County need to take a new look. put harden criminals in a Jail murder rape assult. and so on. A person with a minor offense put them in a half way house control them like a child use the salvation army as a resource they do not do the progam put them in jail a long time.
Not 30 days but 6 months with no ablity to be a trusty.this has been done inother areas. The problem is money not all should be given this privledge but there are people out there with mental illness where we as a society has neglected them not not having placement or the correct meds. we put them on the streets we turn our heads then point out how they are a problem.
It can be a solvable problem but is cost money that no one wants to give because these are throw away people. Shame on us. No one wants to raise taxes so they judge but before you judge this could be your Mom, Dad,Son, Daughter, Brother, Or Sister.
Our Judges are not perfect they have a good heart and do the best they can with little resorces. I am sure they would put them in a program but they are all full and are not geared up for mental illness
kevin foskey
Tue 6th Oct 2009
at 12:32am

3.
The Police, City Prosecutors, and the Judges are in place to protect society. The police say that they don't want us (society) to take the law into our own hands. So these criminals get to rob people (society) of their possessions and commit any number of other crimes and what do they end up getting? A TIME OUT!!! They say (the city) the don't have room and they can't afford to keep them in jail, but if one of them was to break into someone's house and was shot by the owner because the owner felt threatened you can bet they (the city) woould find room for them.
Lawrence Curtis
Sat 3rd Oct 2009
at 4:28pm

4.
would it be all possible for the city of sarasota to organize work detail groups for cleaning up the streets to work off their fines. if nothing is done and they know they can beat the system it will go on forever.
richard barthelmess
Fri 2nd Oct 2009
at 12:59pm