http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2008/02/21/news/top/doc47bd71c035266032879691.txt

A bill to require Wyo. inmates to sober up before being released died in committee.
By The Associated Press Thursday, February 21, 2008

CASPER, Wyo. -- Natrona County Sheriff Mark Benton said the death of a bill that would have required drunken drivers to sober up before being released from jail won't prevent him from revisiting his jail's policy for the release of drunken inmates.


Allegedly, Douglas Downs, 39, then got into a sport-utility vehicle and ran over a man. Jeff Irene, 40, was caught under the car and dragged more than a mile. Irene has been at Wyoming Medical Center ever since.

Downs was charged with driving under the influence causing serious injury, as well as with aggravated assault.

The incident prompted a bill to require drunken drivers to be sober before being released from jail. The bill failed with a 3-2 vote in a legislative committee Monday.

Opponents said the bill wouldn't have prevented anyone from drinking after getting out of jail. They also said the issue would be better handled administratively.

Benton said the issue remains too important to ignore.

"We can't just have these people leaving incarceration under the influence. And we need guidelines to keep that from happening," he said.

The Natrona County jail now holds drunken driving suspects until they sober up, unless they post bond and someone accepts responsibility for them.

But Sen. Bob Fecht, who is Cheyenne's police chief, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that the proposal would have mandated increased jail time for suspects. He said that would increase costs for communities that rent space in county jails.

"The thinking in the committee was there needed to be more information before we could do a good job," said the committee's chairman, Sen. Tony Ross, R-Cheyenne.