Return to jail? Maybe not
Some nonviolent inmates set free when Charley was about to hit have not kept their word to come back.
By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published August 21, 2004
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Worried about flooding from Hurricane Charley, Pinellas County officials decided to take extraordinary measures.
The day before Charley hit Florida, they released 163 nonviolent inmates on the condition that they return by Aug. 17.
On Friday, 25 of them were still out there.
"Obviously we're hoping people continue to return," said Pinellas sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen, who said the inmates were not considered public safety risks.
Patti Flanagan disagrees. The 46-year-old St. Petersburg woman says one of the released inmates assaulted and injured her. Chester James, 56, was subsequently arrested on a battery charge Tuesday, the day he was scheduled to report back to the jail. The alleged assault occurred in a home at 1935 Burlington Ave. N, where Flanagan cares for James' mother.
"If the crime was bad enough to put them in jail, then they should have stayed put," Flanagan said. Neighboring counties also released inmates in anticipation of Charley: Pasco freed 17 inmates who were scheduled for release that Saturday, Sunday or Monday. In Hillsborough, inmates at the work release center were sent home. All but two returned.
One was 10 days from completing his sentence. "Now he faces up to 15 years in prison," said Col. David Parrish, who runs Hillsborough jails.
The second eventually returned - in handcuffs - after stealing a car, Parrish said.
