Johnson County jail crowded out

County officials in charge of spending taxpayer dollars plan to start debating the best way and time to expand the Johnson County jail.

A jail expansion must be seriously considered, say county officials grappling with how to respond to a county jail that at one point last month held nearly 100 more inmates than its maximum capacity.

Voters said no to a jail expansion project that would have raised their property taxes in 2010, and elected officials say it falls to them to make a better case to the public this time, regardless of the final plan they settle on.

Since May, the monthly average number of inmates in the Johnson County jail has exceeded its capacity of 322. The number of inmates topped 400 at several points in the past few weeks, getting as high as 420.

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As of Monday, the jail population was at 379, the result of work by prosecutors and judges to move cases through the court system in the past few weeks, Johnson County Sheriff Doug Cox said.

A large drug bust or an influx of people arrested on warrants is all it would take to push the number of inmates back above 400, he said.

The sheriff’s office and the judicial system have worked to reduce the number of inmates, increasing the amount and frequency of criminal hearings, moving offenders with out-of-county warrants to other jails and using alternative sentencing options, such as home detention or work release.

A rapidly growing county population, state laws preventing some categories of inmates from being transferred to prison and increased drug abuse are factors officials have cited for the rising numbers of inmates.

While officials work on short-term solutions to address the overcrowding, the Johnson County Council and Board of Commissioners are considering what long-term solutions are necessary.

Planning for a new community corrections center is underway. The building would allow another 70 inmates to be placed on work release and provide better local access to programs to reduce recidivism. While that will ease the strain on the jail, that alone won’t be enough to fully resolve the overcrowding issues, Cox said.

The consensus among a majority of the members of the county council and board of commissioners is that a jail expansion is needed now. What remains up for debate is the scope of the expansion, how much the project will cost, how the county will pay for it and when the work should be done.

"I don’t see any way to avoid it in the future," Commissioner Ron West said.

With a rapidly increasing county population and added development and traffic from Interstate 69 on the horizon, the county has to look ahead 15 to 20 years and build to suit those needs, county council member James Ison said.

The county council and board of commissioners are considering a joint session soon where they can discuss solutions, county council member Josh Turner said.

The county council is a seven-member board in charge of the county budget and setting local tax rates. The three member board of commissioners is responsible for approving and planning county projects.

"We have a choice of fixing the problem permanently or having a patchwork fix," Turner said.

If the expansion has a price tag higher than $12 million, a county-wide referendum could be required before it can go forward. A referendum for a $23 million jail expansion adding more than 400 beds was defeated in 2010 after two-thirds of voters cast their ballots against the project that would have raised their property taxes.

At the time of the referendum, the jail had an average population of 322 with a maximum capacity of 304.

However, with the need for a larger jail being much more dire now, it is incumbent on elected officials to make a better case to their constituents about the necessity of this project, Turner said. Being able to properly house inmates isn’t only a matter of safety for inmates and jailers but a public safety issue for residents with the amount of drug-related crimes increasing in the county, he said.

Other council members suggested a piecemeal approach to the expansion, adding onto the jail in smaller sections over the course of several years, rather than all at once.

"I’m not sure there is a large consensus of the population that is in agreement with a larger jail expansion and the costs associated with that," county council member Josh McCarty said.

Instead of having one large expansion, the county could consider doing the project in smaller pieces, which would both alleviate the strain on taxpayers as well as avoid needing to go through a referendum, McCarty said.

Council member Pete Ketchum described the jail expansion as an immediate need.

"The only option is to get the ball rolling," he said.

Increasing taxes is never a popular option, but if the choice is between preserving public safety or raising taxes, the county has an obligation to find the funds, Turner said.

Alternative funding needs to be considered, Ison said. For example, the county council could institute a local income tax for public safety purposes with the money going to the county government and the cities in Johnson County, he said.

The funding would not only support expanding the jail, but would pay for more police officers and public safety improvements for every community in the county, which might make the tax more acceptable to residents, Ison said.

How much that tax would cost residents, and how much money it would bring in are factors the county would need to research, he said, saying he would expect it to net the county several million dollars each year.

Tax increases are an option that could be considered, council member Rob Henderson said. The income tax increase is an option the council should consider, he said.

Commissioner Brian Baird wants to hold off on any jail expansion until after the new community corrections facility is built. He wants to see how much assistance that new building will provide before determining how and when to expand the jail.

The commissioners are working to move that project along as quickly as they can, Baird said. Right now, plans are being drawn up for the building. As soon as that is complete, officials will have a better idea of what the work will cost and how long it will take.