Drawings approved for jail expansion

Plans are in place for a proposed jail expansion in Newton County, but the $1.66 million cost estimate has put it out of reach for the present.

“What they have – the plan right now – is a 48-bed addition and a renovation to the existing book-in area which will include some greatly needed medical cells,” said Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland.

The plan would add two pods to the jail – a 5,700-square-foot addition – add an expanded kitchen and convert the existing one into medical cells where inmates with special needs could be close to the booking area so jailers can monitor their medication and needs.

“We’ve had guys on breathing machines here before,” Copeland said. “We’ve had guys with broken arms and legs. We’ve had them with no legs. You can’t put a wheelchair or a pair of crutches back in a pod with a bunch of people so we have to keep them isolated from the others.”

The jail – like many others – is too full, Copeland said, and that can cause problems.

“Fights go up, assaults go up. We had four fights in the last two weeks and two assaults that sent two inmates to the hospital,” he said. “Typically that was from being overcrowded.”

When the jail was above the courthouse it was built for 36. In 1995, an 80-bed jail facility was built and the county thought they were set for a long time, but in the last six to seven years, Copeland said, the jail population has increased.

“It keeps going up every year,” Copeland said.

The plans call for the new addition to match the current exterior, adding on space to the east behind the building. The building was designed for additions.

“They had the foresight to build it that way and structure it that way so you could come in and add more pods,” Copeland said.

What the county could not envision was the current economic slump. Sales tax revenues need to turn around before the county can think about adding a $1,662,340 project to the list said presiding commissioner Jerry Carter.

“There’s no question that we need to take seriously the need for expanding the jail,” Carter said. “That’s a huge responsibility down there and the people who have to manage it need to have the very best tools and equipment.”

The county has looked for funds to construct the project. They explored stimulus funding and other grants, but so far have received no outside aid.

Alternates are off the table for now, Carter said, but if they did have the funding those would bump the building’s cost up to $1,884,672.

Alternate one would add a video conferencing system that would allow for video visitation and video arraignments. Alternate two would add a walk in cooler and freezer: The jail currently uses consumer model refrigerators and freezers. A third alternate would provide emergency power for the entire building; currently the emergency lights and security system are the only things powered by an emergency generator. The fourth alternate would construct a second vehicle sally port where prisoners could be unloaded in a lock-down facility.

“There’s prisoners coming in and out of here big time,” Copeland said. “So when the sally port is full we park outside and walk ‘em in.”

The jail houses inmates for every law enforcement agency in Newton County. Inmates arrested on felony charges on the Newton County side of Joplin are also brought down.

Running a jail is not a money-making exercise. Cities pay $30-per-day for an inmate’s board. The state reimburses the county for inmates housed on felony charges, but not until after they have been convicted and sentenced. The state reimbursement has dropped in cuts this year from $22 per day to $19.58. Copeland was told that the state set aside a budget for those expenses and once it is exhausted they’re through for the year. None of that covers the county’s cost.

“We’re in the same boat as many, many other jails across the state of Missouri,” Copeland said. “Populations have gone up and they’re overcrowded, prisons are being overcrowded.”

Friday the jail had 104 inmates, but other days they may have 140.

“Right now it’s a big need, but at some point we’ll be forced into doing it,” Copeland said. “We will make do. We’ve got a lot of good folks that work here. They’ve been working under some tough conditions for a long time now with the overcrowding, but we’ll continue to do just that until the time is right. It just can’t get here soon enough for us.”