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06-06-2005, 04:15 PM
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http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifPosted on Mon, Jun. 06, 2005http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifhttp://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
Beds are in short supply at county jail
The jail will need a major expansion if it is to keep up with a growing number of inmates, the sheriff says.
BY HURST LAVIANA
The Wichita Eagle
The Sedgwick County Jail is chronically overcrowded and Sheriff Gary Steed says it's time to start talking seriously about a significant expansion.
The county needs a 400-bed addition if it is to continue safely handling what has become a steadily growing jail population, Steed said.
"Time is not on our side on this," he added.
A consultant told Sedgwick County Commissioners last year that they could avoid spending millions to build a jail addition by following suggestions in a 178-page report that outlined a series of population-control programs.
Some of those programs have been implemented, Steed said, and are diverting dozens of inmates away from the jail.
For example, the county has expanded its Community Communications Program and has cut the backlog of inmates waiting to enter the program from 70 in early 2004 to 20 today.
But despite these tweaks, Steed said, the jail is full and its population is growing by an average of 10 inmates a month.
County Manager Bill Buchanan said he respects Steed's opinion but he still hopes that the county will be able to avoid adding more jail beds. He said one of the report's suggestions resulted in the formation of a Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, which has been looking for ways to control the jail population.
"This is a slow and arduous project," Buchanan said. "We'll try to help him as much as we can."
Some of the report's suggestions have not gotten beyond the discussion stage, Buchanan said. A drug court, a night court and a "release matrix" are suggestions that are still being studied. The matrix concept, which is being used in juvenile court, would automatically release selected inmates when the jail reaches a certain population.
Chief Sedgwick County Judge Richard Ballinger, who heads the Council, said a matrix might involve releasing inmates who are within 10 days of finishing a misdemeanor jail sentence.
Buchanan said there is no timetable, but that the council is making progress.
"Before I can in good conscience ask the public to spend tax money on jail space, I want to be able to look them in the eye and say, 'We've tried everything known to man,' " he said.
The jail's history
Construction of the Sedgwick County jail began during the 1980s after a federal judge ruled that inmates in the old jail, which was housed in the Sedgwick County Courthouse, were so crowded that it amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. The new $23 million jail opened in 1990, and the 418 beds were quickly filled.
By the late 1990s, the jail held more than 600 inmates, with many sleeping on cots in the jail's recreation areas. Dozens were being held in jails in other counties.
In 1999 the $35 million Sedgwick County Jail addition opened and pushed the total capacity above 1,100.
Today, there are more than 1,400 inmates in the custody of the sheriff, with many of them being held in the county's 145-bed work-release facility and in jails in other counties. Building a 400-bed addition would cost about $31 million, Steed said.
The crowding caused problems last month when a glitch in a new computer system caused delays in the booking process.
The number of inmates in the booking area, which houses 60 to 80 inmates on a typical morning, swelled to more than 140. Some inmates were forced to spend more than 100 hours in an area where the only place to sleep is a concrete bench.
Inside the walls
During a tour of the jail last week, the booking area held about 100 inmates, some of whom sat in "the pit," a sunken area in the middle of the room surrounded by benches.
Staging cells around the walls held dozens of men and women, many of whom simply stood by their locked doors and watched as law enforcement officers brought in a steady stream of handcuffed prisoners.
A woman in a Lyons County jail shirt stood in one of the isolation cells, holding her anguished face against the door while slapping the window with an open hand in an attempt to get someone's attention.
One of the larger staging cells held 11 men -- one in a wheel chair, two who were lying on the floor and two who were lying on concrete benches. Six others sat silently on benches.
The cells in the booking area have sinks and toilets but no beds.
"It's a lot of frustrated people," Steed said as he walked through the area.
In the main jail, Steed said, there are three types of holding areas. In the "indirect pods," a detention officer monitors about 50 inmates from inside a locked control room. In the "direct pods," an officer monitors inmates while sitting at a desk amid the prisoners.
In the dorms, inmates sleep on beds that fill half the pod. The other half holds tables and chairs where inmates can play cards, read magazines or watch television.
There also is an area in the jail for protective custody inmates and a disciplinary detention area where inmates are locked down 23 hours a day.
Steed said that because of crowding, 168 more beds are being installed in the seven direct-access pods.
He said Kansas prison inmates would be brought in to attach the beds to the walls in the cells being converted. The state inmates will live in the jail while working on the project.
Steed said monitoring a jail pod is a bit like looking at an aquarium.
"You put five fish in an aquarium, you can count them," he said. "You put 10 fish in and maybe you can't. You put too many fish in, you can't keep track of them."
Steed said one detention officer should be able to monitor 75 well behaved inmates in one of the pods with extra beds. But any more than that, he said, would pose a danger to officers.
Steed said he's afraid detention officers will end up monitoring too many inmates if work on a new expansion doesn't begin soon.
"If we continue to get more and more in system, it eventually will overload," he said. "Everything breaks down in here when you go to that level."
In a worst-case scenario, he said, the county may be forced by a judge to expand the jail.
"Eventually, a magistrate gets involved and forces us to build something," he said. "That's what happened in the past -- the federal courts took over. I hope we don't end up in that situation again."
Reach Hurst Laviana at 268-6499 or hlaviana@wichitaeagle.com (hlaviana@wichitaeagle.com).
© 2005 Wichita Eagle and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifPosted on Mon, Jun. 06, 2005http://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gifhttp://www.kansas.com/images/common/spacer.gif
Beds are in short supply at county jail
The jail will need a major expansion if it is to keep up with a growing number of inmates, the sheriff says.
BY HURST LAVIANA
The Wichita Eagle
The Sedgwick County Jail is chronically overcrowded and Sheriff Gary Steed says it's time to start talking seriously about a significant expansion.
The county needs a 400-bed addition if it is to continue safely handling what has become a steadily growing jail population, Steed said.
"Time is not on our side on this," he added.
A consultant told Sedgwick County Commissioners last year that they could avoid spending millions to build a jail addition by following suggestions in a 178-page report that outlined a series of population-control programs.
Some of those programs have been implemented, Steed said, and are diverting dozens of inmates away from the jail.
For example, the county has expanded its Community Communications Program and has cut the backlog of inmates waiting to enter the program from 70 in early 2004 to 20 today.
But despite these tweaks, Steed said, the jail is full and its population is growing by an average of 10 inmates a month.
County Manager Bill Buchanan said he respects Steed's opinion but he still hopes that the county will be able to avoid adding more jail beds. He said one of the report's suggestions resulted in the formation of a Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, which has been looking for ways to control the jail population.
"This is a slow and arduous project," Buchanan said. "We'll try to help him as much as we can."
Some of the report's suggestions have not gotten beyond the discussion stage, Buchanan said. A drug court, a night court and a "release matrix" are suggestions that are still being studied. The matrix concept, which is being used in juvenile court, would automatically release selected inmates when the jail reaches a certain population.
Chief Sedgwick County Judge Richard Ballinger, who heads the Council, said a matrix might involve releasing inmates who are within 10 days of finishing a misdemeanor jail sentence.
Buchanan said there is no timetable, but that the council is making progress.
"Before I can in good conscience ask the public to spend tax money on jail space, I want to be able to look them in the eye and say, 'We've tried everything known to man,' " he said.
The jail's history
Construction of the Sedgwick County jail began during the 1980s after a federal judge ruled that inmates in the old jail, which was housed in the Sedgwick County Courthouse, were so crowded that it amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. The new $23 million jail opened in 1990, and the 418 beds were quickly filled.
By the late 1990s, the jail held more than 600 inmates, with many sleeping on cots in the jail's recreation areas. Dozens were being held in jails in other counties.
In 1999 the $35 million Sedgwick County Jail addition opened and pushed the total capacity above 1,100.
Today, there are more than 1,400 inmates in the custody of the sheriff, with many of them being held in the county's 145-bed work-release facility and in jails in other counties. Building a 400-bed addition would cost about $31 million, Steed said.
The crowding caused problems last month when a glitch in a new computer system caused delays in the booking process.
The number of inmates in the booking area, which houses 60 to 80 inmates on a typical morning, swelled to more than 140. Some inmates were forced to spend more than 100 hours in an area where the only place to sleep is a concrete bench.
Inside the walls
During a tour of the jail last week, the booking area held about 100 inmates, some of whom sat in "the pit," a sunken area in the middle of the room surrounded by benches.
Staging cells around the walls held dozens of men and women, many of whom simply stood by their locked doors and watched as law enforcement officers brought in a steady stream of handcuffed prisoners.
A woman in a Lyons County jail shirt stood in one of the isolation cells, holding her anguished face against the door while slapping the window with an open hand in an attempt to get someone's attention.
One of the larger staging cells held 11 men -- one in a wheel chair, two who were lying on the floor and two who were lying on concrete benches. Six others sat silently on benches.
The cells in the booking area have sinks and toilets but no beds.
"It's a lot of frustrated people," Steed said as he walked through the area.
In the main jail, Steed said, there are three types of holding areas. In the "indirect pods," a detention officer monitors about 50 inmates from inside a locked control room. In the "direct pods," an officer monitors inmates while sitting at a desk amid the prisoners.
In the dorms, inmates sleep on beds that fill half the pod. The other half holds tables and chairs where inmates can play cards, read magazines or watch television.
There also is an area in the jail for protective custody inmates and a disciplinary detention area where inmates are locked down 23 hours a day.
Steed said that because of crowding, 168 more beds are being installed in the seven direct-access pods.
He said Kansas prison inmates would be brought in to attach the beds to the walls in the cells being converted. The state inmates will live in the jail while working on the project.
Steed said monitoring a jail pod is a bit like looking at an aquarium.
"You put five fish in an aquarium, you can count them," he said. "You put 10 fish in and maybe you can't. You put too many fish in, you can't keep track of them."
Steed said one detention officer should be able to monitor 75 well behaved inmates in one of the pods with extra beds. But any more than that, he said, would pose a danger to officers.
Steed said he's afraid detention officers will end up monitoring too many inmates if work on a new expansion doesn't begin soon.
"If we continue to get more and more in system, it eventually will overload," he said. "Everything breaks down in here when you go to that level."
In a worst-case scenario, he said, the county may be forced by a judge to expand the jail.
"Eventually, a magistrate gets involved and forces us to build something," he said. "That's what happened in the past -- the federal courts took over. I hope we don't end up in that situation again."
Reach Hurst Laviana at 268-6499 or hlaviana@wichitaeagle.com (hlaviana@wichitaeagle.com).
© 2005 Wichita Eagle and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.kansas.com