Commissioners pull jail-overcrowding ordinance from the agenda, say a decision is still weeks away

What happened

A county official identified in the meeting as Friedrich told commissioners the county continues to house 25 to 50 inmates outside the county because of jail overcrowding — averaging about 30 this summer — at a cost of roughly $400,000 to $600,000 a year. (22:52, 22:59, 23:14) He said residents regularly ask the commissioners what will be done about it, but that the county isn't ready to put forward an ordinance today, and instead wants a group of people who deal with the jail every day — judges, the sheriff's department, the prosecutor, and others — to study whether the fix should be an expanded community corrections center or an added jail pod, and bring back a recommendation. (23:45, 24:17) An attorney identified as Dave, who has handled the county's federal jail class-action lawsuit since 2016, said he has a meeting scheduled with the judges next week to go over the options, along with staffing problems caused by moving inmates to the courthouse for hearings — which he said has forced mandatory overtime for correctional officers and contributed to turnover — and two video courtrooms built into the jail in 2021 that have never been used. (26:13, 26:46) An ordinance that had been placed on today's agenda addressing the jail decision was withdrawn and not brought forward. (30:32)

The outcome

No vote taken; the ordinance was pulled from today's agenda. Commissioners said they are waiting on a recommendation after the county's outside jail counsel meets with judges next week, before returning with a proposed ordinance.

Sources

Also known as: jail overcrowding · jail pod expansion · community corrections expansion · housing inmates out of county · jail class action lawsuit