Outdoor Drunk Tank Established to Humiliate the Homeless

Outdoor Drunk Tank Established to Humiliate the Homeless
By Mike Rhodes

The City of Fresno is setting up an outdoor drunk tank which is perhaps the only one of its kind in this country. City officials say that this is an "innovative" way to save money. The facility will be run by The Rescue Mission and will be located in the epicenter of Fresno’s homeless population. While City officials claim that this is not another attack on the homeless, critics have their doubts.

Speaking before the City Council on Tuesday , May 11 Gloria Hernandez said "I have a lot of concerns with this proposal. If we have a drunk tank both rich and poor ought to go in there. I hope that when you look at this the money is not important - the people are important." Edie Jessup said that she was concerned about the "20,000 plus homeless in Fresno and Madera who are at risk because of the eroding safety net." Edie went on to say that "an open air drunk tank is not a solution to the problem and this has a terrible appearance for the city of Fresno. I can only imagine the legal and human rights suits that the establishment of this facility will create."

The outdoor drunk tank will be operated by The Rescue Mission, under an overpass on G street in downtown Fresno. Temperatures get up to 110 degrees in the summer and down to 28 degrees in the winter. The director of the Rescue Mission, Larry Arce says that he believes the people brought into the drunk tank his organization will run are in need of spiritual guidance to resolve their problems. It appears that Fresno taxpayers will soon be paying for evangelical Christians to proselytize persons picked up for public intoxication.

Captain Greg Garner, who is with the Fresno Police Department, says that it costs $170 to book someone in the downtown jail for a 647F - Public intoxication. He claims that the City will save up to $400,000 a year if each of the people picked up were taken to the open air drunk tank rather than being booked into the County jail. But, even Captain Garner admits that not every person picked up will be taken to the drunk tank instead of the jail. Therefore, the potential savings will be considerably less than stated. Captain Garner said that "no combative individuals, nobody on drugs, no non ambulatory individuals, and no women will be taken to the Rescue Mission facility. Some critics have suggested that the discrimination based on sex is illegal. Other critics have expressed concern that this experiment will end up costing the City money if someone dies or is seriously injured due to negligence from the inadequately trained staff at the Rescue Mission. One $10 million dollar lawsuit arising from the lack of care would make this a very expensive social experiment for the City of Fresno. As far as anyone can determine the supervisors at the rescue mission will not be trained medical professionals prepared to deal with the variety of problems they could encounter with the individuals they have imprisoned.

But these concerns did not deter the enthusiasm for the project by City Council members. Brian Calhoun was almost giddy saying that he was " very intrigued and impressed with this approach.

This is a win-win. A thumbs up for a very good way for dealing with this population." Even our resident liberal, Tom Boyajian voted to support the proposal. Boyajian dismissed the potential to convert the prisoners to Christianity by saying "Maybe you will give them handouts and say this is the kind of thing that maybe can help you because you have an issue that you need to take care of. You are trying to bring more humanity to these individuals."

The outdoor drunk tank is the latest in a long series of attacks on this communities homeless population. It started with a push to move the homeless South of Ventura - the homeless were harassed when they were in the downtown core where builders and developers are planning major re-development projects. About the same time an anti panhandling ordinance was passed and a public relations campaign implemented to convince the public to not donate cash to the poor and homeless. The public was told that they (the homeless) would use money to buy drugs and alcohol. Earlier this year the City of Fresno bulldozed the homeless encampments on Santa Clara and throughout the downtown area, again saying that they were cleaning up the streets to prevent crime and drug use. Now, we have another project gearing up to further attack and humiliate the homeless - an outdoor drunk tank where they will be put on public display behind a chain link fence topped with razor wire. The plan for an outdoor drunk tank is not only dangerous to the health of those unlucky enough to end up inside but is probably blatantly illegal.

The purpose of these attacks on the homeless is to make life so miserable for them that they simply give up and move to some city that is not as hostile. There is another way - The City of Fresno could treat each resident with dignity and respect. They could provide services that would help the homeless live a better life. They could open up some of the empty buildings downtown as homeless shelters. Community activists can be supportive by helping the groups that support the homeless - groups like Food Not Bombs, The St. Benedict Catholic Worker, and the Sleeping Bag Project. It is important for the progressive community to keep the homeless on the radar screen and advocate for their fair treatment. The Indymedia staff in Fresno will continue to follow the story and bring you information from the War Zone in this Tale of Two Cities.