At the same time, a comprehensive study to determine the county's long-term corrections needs, including the future of Oxbow, has stalled. The study was to have been completed by November, but officials are still drafting the request for proposals and the results could be a year away.

So what's the hurry to reopen Oxbow? Why make a rash decision? Why not wait until the results are in?

Crime, and criminal case filings, are up in the county. The alternative-to-incarceration programs - supervised release with ankle monitors, day-reporting centers and drug treatment programs - reportedly are booked full. And the limited-vacancy light is on at the 2,000-bed Adult Detention Center, where 14 prisoners were set free last month to alleviate overcrowding.

Still, the council shouldn't push the panic button. A jail is not a box. You can't keep opening and closing it without incurring substantial costs.

Mark Crockett, council president, said it will cost about $650,000 to prepare Oxbow to accept prisoners, a process that could take 90 days or more. The cost to operate the jail, which was mothballed in 2000, would be much, much more.

Council members need to slow down, catch their breath and reach a logical conclusion based on facts, not election-year fear stemming from the early release of a handful of criminals.

And the public can rest easy. The prisoners who were released were not robbers, rapists or murderers. Their crimes: joy riding, speeding, possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to pay child support, to name a few.

There are questions that need to be asked and answered, and options that need to be explored, before the council pulls the trigger and potentially pours your tax dollars down the drain.

Does the increase in crime represent a seasonal or temporary spike? Can the county buy more ankle monitors, open another day-reporting center and establish more treatment programs as alternatives to incarceration? Could prisoners be temporarily housed in jails in adjoining counties?

Council members are running scared, and worse, they're flying blind. Before they make a decision they need numbers, facts, and above all, a clear direction, something that only a deliberate, detailed and decisive study of the county's justice system can provide.