CALL NOW.

Sheriff’s Office: 706-613-3250

Press 0 to connect to an operator and ask to speak to an available officer.

Email: sheriff@athensclarkecounty.com

Script:

Why has the Sheriff’s Office not reversed your policy of working with ICE to deport Athenians? The community of Athens has made it clear that we stand with immigrants, not ICE. Deporting people and ripping families apart not only hurts those individuals, also it hurts the entire community by eroding trust in local law enforcement. Why has the Sheriff’s Office chosen to make all of Athens less safe through this inhumane policy? The Sheriff’s Office needs to start working for the people of Athens and stop cooperating with ICE immediately.

What’s going on?

In December, Athens found out that since July of 2017 the Sheriff’s Office in Athens has been secretly working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deport Athenians. This broke promises made to the immigrant community and their allies here in Athens. Activists, community members and elected officials spoke privately with the Sheriff’s Office but were ignored. The community called loudly and passionately for the Sheriff’s Office to stand with the people of Athens instead of with ICE. In response to this outcry, the Sheriff used a standard stalling tactic: they created a toothless task force that has done nothing while the deportations have only continued.

Need to know more about why it’s wrong? Read our previous post here.

Eleven candidates for the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission issued a joint statement this week urging the Sheriff’s Office to overturn this policy. Thank you: Kelly Girtz, Richie Knight, Antwon Stephens, Patrick Davenport, Mariah Parker, Melissa Link, Tony Eubanks, Tim Denson, Russell Edwards, Ovita Thornton and Tommy Valentine.

Rep Deborah Gonzalez, Rep Jonathan Wallace, and local leaders in the Interfaith Sanctuary Coalition have also spoken out against the policy.

Working with is ICE is wrong. It rips families apart. Athens thinks of itself as a caring community that rejects racism and fearmongering and embraces diversity: now we need to prove it. We must stand up to protect immigrants and make our community a safe place for all. Call the Sheriff’s Office today and tell them you demand their policy of working with ICE be immediately reversed.

CALL NOW.

Sheriff’s Office: 706-613-3250

Press 0 to connect to an operator and ask to speak to an available officer.

Email: sheriff@athensclarkecounty.com

Athens for Everyone

March 8, 2017

We can stop this. Please sign our petition!

And Call the Sheriff’s Office: 706-613-3250

Press 0 to speak to an operator; you can ask to speak to Captain Hodges.

Email: sheriff@athensclarkecounty.com

Script:

I’ve recently heard that the Sheriff’s Office has been working with ICE. This is in clear violation of the constitution and opens us up to costly lawsuits. Deporting people and ripping families apart not only hurts those families, but also erodes trust in local law enforcement, and makes all of us less safe. I want to encourage the Sheriff’s Office to stand with their community, and stop working with ICE immediately.

What’s going on?

For years, our Sheriff’s Office in Athens has chosen to not comply with ICE detainer requests because they are unconstitutional and erode trust in local law enforcement. Yet, in July of this year, they quietly began to work with ICE again, breaking promises made to the immigrant community and their allies here in Athens. Community members, A4E, and even the ACC Mayor & Commission didn’t find out about this change in policy until very recently – almost five months later.

On Monday the Athens Immigrant Rights Coalition (AIRC), A4E, and County Commissioner Kelly Girtz met with Sheriff Ira Edwards to ask him to return to his previous policy of non-cooperation with ICE.Sheriff Edwards claimed that immigrants might be violent or have terrorist ties, which mimicked the false and dangerous rhetoric of the Trump administration. There is zero evidence of ties to terrorism in the immigrant community in Athens: in fact, immigrants are less likely to commit violent crimes than native-born citizens. Despite being informed of this, and being reminded that holding anyone without due process is illegal, the Sheriff has not yet shown the courage to change course.

Detaining Anyone – Including Immigrants – Without Due Process is Illegal

Immigrants in our community and around the country have been living under the threat and reality of detention and deportation for years. This has only become worse since Trump took office.

ICE has greatly increased the use of detainer requests to local sheriffs in the Trump era. Detainer Requests are when ICE asks local law enforcement to hold for 48 hours anyone without documentation, even those picked up for minor offenses like driving without a license, so ICE can take them and start deportation proceedings. In Athens, the Sheriff’s Office oversees the county jail, so these detainer requests are sent to the Sheriff’s Office. There’s a big problem with these requests – even beyond the horror of the deportation itself. Detainer requests are unconstitutional. Law enforcement cannot hold anyone without due process, a right which is described in the 4th Amendment to the US Constitution. This right has been upheld time and time again in ICE detainer cases, often with the local government paying hefty fines for violations.

Deportation is a Violation of Human Rights

Deportation violates a person’s right to not be ripped away from their home by the government. Deporting people destroys lives, breaks up families, and causes many more to live in fear. Lives are shattered even for the most minor traffic violations. A4E joins the Athenian immigrant community in calling for an end to all deportations.

In the continued struggle for immigrants’ rights, including the demand for a path to full citizenship and an end to all deportations, we must now get the Sheriff’s office to overturn this policy and stop complying with illegal ICE requests. The Sheriff’s Office knows they are ethically and legally in the wrong: with your help, we can get them to do what is right!

Please sign our petition today!

You can also call the Sheriff (706-613-3253) or send an email (sheriff@athensclarkecounty.com).

Tell him: Working with is ICE is wrong. It rips families apart. It is in clear violation of the constitution. And by eroding trust in local law enforcement, it makes our community less safe.

Athens is a caring community that rejects the racism and fearmongering coming from the Trump administration. Together, we can protect immigrants and make our community a safe place for all.

Athens for Everyone
December 6, 2017

ACC Shouldn’t Be Profitting Off of Inmate Phone Calls by Tim Denson

At this past September’s Athens-Clarke County Mayor & Commission meeting, the County Commission voted on a contract that would bring in $1.25 million dollars in revenue over the next 5 years. No public funding would be necessary and almost all labor would be provided at no cost to the County. When it came time to vote, 8 of the 9 Commissioners present voted in favor of the contract and chose to keep in place a very harmful policy that profits off of individuals, and their families who have the misfortune of being incarcerated in our County Jail, guilty or not.

Athens-Clarke County is not doing this by itself, the Clarke County Jail outsources its inmate phone service to private prison companies, currently Securus Tech, inc.. When an inmate makes a telephone call the company charges fees to the caller and/or callee, takes a percentage for itself, and then kicks back a “commission” to the county. County Manager Alan Reddish says, “It’s a practice we’ve been following in this community for many years.”

The specific contract passed last month gives Clarke County an exceptionally high “commission” of 80%, meaning that the County takes 80% of the money collected from each call. It is predicted that inmate telephone calls will bring in $300,000 a year on average; Securus Tech will take 20% of that, or $50,000, for its services and will then give Athens-Clarke County $250,000. That’s the kind of markup you can expect from ticket scalpers selling UGA-Tech tickets. This does not include a separate contract that ACCUG has with Securus Tech to offer inmate phone services to the rarely spoken of Clarke County Corrections Institution, where up to 121 adult male felons are held. That contract includes higher fees imposed on inmates and families for calls, but only a 61% commission to the County.  Revenue, no matter how badly needed, should never be raised in such a way and at such an exorbitant cost.

Even worse is that a majority of this $1.25 million dollars will be coming from Clarke County residents who happen to be part of the 38% of our County population struggling under the poverty line. You see, nationally 53% of individuals arrested are already in poverty (I presume this to be higher in ACC). Since people above the poverty line that are arrested can afford to pay bail and be released, 80% of people who fill jails are in, or close to, poverty. The phone calls are being made by the people who are in jail, not the ones who had the money to get out. Minutes turn to hours, hours turn to days, days turn to weeks, and these people unable to pay bail sit in cells awaiting their trial. Once this cycle of jail to poverty to jail starts it can be hard to break. They are sitting in a jail cell being presumed innocent as they are punished financially, physically, and emotionally for a crime they have not necessarily been found guilty of.

As of January 2015, 72% of the people in Clarke County Jail were there awaiting their trial, many of them supposedly still presumed innocent and there because they are unable to afford bail. A person with enough money for bail can be arrested, out of jail within hours, making phone calls with whatever service they choose, awaiting justice in the comfort of their own home.

It is not difficult to see that there is something morally wrong with making money off of people you are holding captive. County Commissioner Andy Herod noted, “There does seem to be something distasteful about making a quarter of a million dollars off of phone calls from inmates at the jail” right before he voted to approve the contract to Securus Tech.

Commissioner Sharyn Dickerson gave a justification for her Yes vote in a way I heard from many County officials when she said, “Maybe this isn’t the best way to handle the inmate (phone) call situation but, you know, this isn’t something that we’re doing that nobody else isn’t doing”. If a person on trial defended themselves by saying “Everyone else does it” and “I’ve always done it” they would probably be sentenced to a jail that would profit off of their phone calls to their mother.

The other argument made by many County officials is that “the jail is expensive”. That is true, but not because of phone calls. The jail is so expensive because our nation, state, and county have seen huge growths in the number of people held in jails and prisons. Over just the last 30 years, the number of people being incarcerated nationally has increased by 500%. The war on drugs, rise of private prisons, and policies that punish poverty with jail time have all contributed to this increase in incarceration. If we want to lower the $11 million dollar operational budget of our County Jail we should continue to look at ways to jail fewer people, not make money off of people in jail.

County officials are quick to point out that Securus Tech offered much lower call and fee rates with this contract than compared to previous contracts. This is certainly true and I was confused why a profit-driven private prison corporation would all of a sudden offer it’s services at these lower rates. The kindness of its heart? To mend their ways? More likely it’s because the Federal Communications Commission will very possibly be handing down a ruling on October 22 capping these inmate phone fees and rates to numbers very close to the ones offered to the Clarke County Jail. This does show though, that this private-prison corporation is prepared to lower the amount of revenue it receives from inmates and inmate families, but Athens-Clarke County is simultaneously preparing to increase the amount of revenue they receive from inmate phone calls to $1.25 million dollars.

At the September Commission meeting many Commissioners seemed unfamiliar with the policy they were voting on to raise revenue from phone calls between inmates and their families. Once it was brought to the Commission’s attention I hoped that the item would at least be tabled and visited the following month after more research. Unfortunately, all Commissioners except Melissa Link voted to pass the Contract as is (Commissioner Kelly Girtz was absent). We cannot let our Mayor and Commission pass policies that will actually help perpetuate systemic poverty. Our Commission should be instead passing whatever policies, such as an ACC Living Wage Policy, that will fight the income inequality and poverty our community faces.

I hope that the Mayor and Commission will look closely at how this negatively affects our community and vote to get rid of the revenue taken by the County next year. I want to be clear that I’m not advocating for the phone calls to be free and the County pay for them. I’m asking that the additional 80% cost the County is taking be ended and that callers only pay the cost of the service offered by Securus Tech. From talks to Commissioners, 5 admit that the County needs to look at changing this practice. Please, contact your Commissioner and ask them to stop raising revenue in this way.

The Mayor and Commission often hear from people of privilege about privileged-people issues like historic districts and sidewalk cafes. We people of privilege need to be just as willing, if not more so, to stand up for our neighbors whose voices are silenced with poverty, inequality, and jail cells.
The phone is ringing, answer the call.

Athens-Clarke County Commissioners who voted in favor of the Inmate Phone System contract: Harry Sims (made motion to accept Contract); Mike Hamby (seconded motion to accept conract); Allison Wright; Sharyn Dickerson; Jared Bailey; Jerry Nesmith; Diane Bell; Andy Herod

Commissioners who voted against the Inmate Phone System contract: Melissa Link

Commissioners absent: Kelly Girtz