Released inmates hop on the bus straight to Lincoln Road

Miami Beach officials are battling a transportation anomaly that seems to lead released inmates from throughout the county straight from a bus stop adjacent to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center right to the city’s Lincoln Road.

A unanimous May resolution urges “Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation Department and the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust to explore alternative transportation options for inmates at the time of their release from the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK).”

On Nov. 16, 2022, an item sent to the Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee focused on the transportation offered to inmates when released from the correctional center.

This April, the committee recommended that the commission “adopt a resolution urging Miami-Dade County and TGK to offer alternative transportation options to inmates upon release, including … transportation to facilities within the continuum of care or to the individual’s home or address of record, or other alternatives or solutions, in collaboration with the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust and other agencies.”

Item sponsor Commissioner Alex Fernandez was joined by co-sponsors commissioners David Suarez and Joe Magazine and Mayor Steven Meiner.

It’s pivotal, said Commissioner Fernandez, “to the safety of our residents, of our business community, of our visitors, of our workforce, to the general and overall safety of our city of Miami Beach to address the issue of inmate transportation when they’re released from TGK. Right now, when individuals in Miami-Dade County are arrested … they’re taken to the correctional center over on 41st Street and eventually, as we all know, they appear before a judge, and whether it be after a bond hearing or at some point they are released.”

Unfortunately, said Commissioner Fernandez as he pointed to a photo of the bus stop adjacent to the TGK, Miami Beach faces a disparity.

“This is a sign of the bus stop on 36th Street, right in front of TGK where every single criminal in Miami-Dade County is taken to when they’re arrested,” Mr. Fernandez said. “When they’re released, they depend on public transportation, and they go to the bus stop right in front of TGK. The first thing that they are provided with is a route that takes them to Miami Beach, Lincoln Road.”

Persons arrested in Homestead, West Kendall, Miami Gardens, or anywhere in the 2,000 square miles of the county, said Mr. Fernandez, find that their public transportation option in front of the TGK is to go to Lincoln Road.

Lincoln Road is an economic engine for the county and the state, he said. “That’s where our public transportation is taking you to. Now, you may have two other options. You have the Golden Glades Park and Ride, you have Tri-Rail over there, but the highest frequency route is the 36A. If you just so happened to be released on the weekends, that bus route is the only bus route that they have available right in front of TGK. It’s no wonder when you go to the east end of Lincoln Road, the property owners are up in arms.”

He said the commission must leverage its relationships to address this.

Mr. Fernandez said he rode that bus route and saw an inmate’s bag left at the bus stop. “That individual that had been arrested by our police department just a few days earlier got released, went to that bus stop that has that route that brings them back to Miami Beach. He left his property bag there, but this is an individual with 17 court cases – someone that had been arrested 17 times with charges of narcotics, of theft, of aggravated battery…. Why should our officers be arresting individuals with that type of criminal history only for them to be able to get a bus directly back into our community when they’re released from jail.”

“Do we need to perhaps hire someone to reach out to the county and deal directly with the county on this issue on the city’s behalf?” he asked. “We need a lobbyist to engage with the county on this issue.”

Mayor Meiner said he would try outreach to get the topic high on the county’s radar.