Nov 28, 2007 4:48 am US/Pacific
San Diego Inmates To Be Dealt 'Murder Cards'
SAN DIEGO (AP) ―
The next time inmates play cards in county jail, they may have a pair of murders or a straight of victims looking up at them.
New card decks unveiled Tuesday will be made available to inmates in seven jails and depict 52 unsolved murders. Some of the cold-case cards will show a murder victim along with a description of the crime, while others will have the faces of fugitives on them.
The hope is that inmates can provide information about the unsolved cases and will call a toll-free number linking them to Crime Stoppers.
"We know that those in jail right now have the information to take care of and to bring justice to the victims and the victims' families," said Crime Stoppers board member Auday Arabo.
Inmates can call in tips anonymously and if the information leads to an arrest they can be rewarded up to $1,000 and possibly more if additional reward money is offered by other parties.
The cards will sell for $1.79 and be the only ones sold in the jails, sheriff's Lt. Dennis Brugos said.
There are 5,100 inmates incarcerated in the county's jails and about 400 packs of cards bought each month. There are currently 2,000 cold cases in San Diego County under investigation, some dating back decades.
The cards are modeled after a program in Florida that resulted in three cases being solved in three months, Crime Stoppers Executive Director Sally Cox said.
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