Spokane7
68°
May 31, 2011 in City
Population surges at Spokane County Jail
The three-day holiday weekend has brought so many inmates to the Spokane County Jail that some misdemeanor suspects are being released after booking.
The jail was designed to hold 462 inmates. Any population greater than 600 inmates is considered overcrowded, and the jail limits booking if the population exceeds 620 for more than 24 hours. That happened this morning, Sgt. Dave Reagan said in a news release.
The population could decrease after suspects appear in court today. Spokane County Superior Court is beginning its first appearance docket for felony arrests a half an hour earlier in anticipation of a large number of suspects.
As the jail population boomed Sunday night, deputies dealt with more than 20 inmates who were upset when a newly-assigned deputy turned out lights earlier than normal.
The inmates, among 46 assigned to the area, began kicking and pounding on cell doors and trying to flood their cells.
Deputies identified the “ringleaders” and pepper-sprayed one after he refused to be handcuffed, Reagan said.
Jail staff removed three others but “began running out of available cells where each inmate could be isolated.”
The cells remained on lock down today as staff investigates the incident.
1992 murder trial begins against sex offender 
CommonSenseJoe on May 31 at 12:12 p.m.
Maybe if the jail just held local criminals as opposed to State and Federal prisoners, ol’ Knezovich wouldn’t have all the overcrowding he does. It’s like saying my piggy bank is too full, so I need a bigger piggy bank paid for at public expense.
westerly on May 31 at 12:34 p.m.
Sounds like basically Oz likes to house the best paying criminals from around the state and USA, and Spokane’s huge population of criminal predators who live here are going free to terrorize Spokane.
monarch on May 31 at 2:36 p.m.
Be afraid, be very afraid. Oh, and vote to spend hundreds of millions on a new Jail too!
jddavis on May 31 at 2:45 p.m.
Sorry Sherriff, still not supporting a new jail.
Dazzeetrader11 on May 31 at 3:47 p.m.
Forcing the issue!! Oz is proving he needs a new jail. Oh the travel arrangemnets to the West Plains should be expensive!
Gas, truck wear and tear.., man hours…the shame!!
It is kinda funny.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on May 31 at 5:07 p.m.
Why was my comment deleted?
Was it because I just pointed out how there was an article a few months ago that told of the declining jail population?
Was it because I said our corrupt sheriff was arresting people to make the jail full so he can push his waste of tax payer money on his shiny new jail?
Spokesman you need to stop deleting comments just because you dont agree with what they say when there was NO derogatory language or anything else bad.
Sorry if the people who run this paper support our corrupt sheriff and want him to build a shiny a new jail, but that does not give you the right to delete harmless comments pointing out how just a few months ago the jail population was so low they were laying off workers at the jail……this higher jail population is very convenient when our corrupt sheriff is making a push for his new waste of tax payer money jail.
Squid on May 31 at 5:47 p.m.
Would it help if people who are charged with a misdemeanor aren’t taking up space in jail? Problem solved!
D Statler on May 31 at 5:55 p.m.
Maybe if the dipsticks supervising the show at Spokane County Jail treated inmates with alittle dignity. They would not be having these uprisings.Now they will go in and beat the tar out of them,guilty or not, for voicing their opinions. They may be trying out for another episode of COPS ! I would suggest the arresting officers exercise some common sense before hauling non violent offenders to jail. Save alittle space to house the dirty DRUG Task Force Detectives passing out dope on street corners. They are more danderous than the druggies they are trying to arrest.No to housing Federal inmates. NO TO NEW JAILS !!
greyhound2 on May 31 at 6:51 p.m.
The United States has the highest per capita prison population of any country on the planet, and of any country which has existed in all of recorded history. America is jail happy and hardly qualifies as the “Land of the Free”. Some people belong in jail, but not victimless and non-violent offenders, where it then becomes just another business for the benefit of a few special interest groups at the expense of the disadvantaged. Statistics: United States, 36 per 1000; Russia under Stalin, 32 per 1000; Western Europe, 14 per 1000. Get a clue.
misjustice on May 31 at 7:17 p.m.
Sorry, Ozzie, I’m still not voting to buy/build you a new jail!
@ Liberal, I clearly remember the hand wringing over the lay offs and the empty cells; and now, what? Just a few months later it’s overcrowding and overfilled cells? The boys and gals in blue must be workin’ overtime to keep those cells full; kinda like job security for them, I guess. The more folks you can lock up for harmless “crimes” like havin’ a little weed, the more you can claim you “need” a new jail.
Crime pays!
; )
LucyLennox on May 31 at 7:37 p.m.
Interesting that the Sheriff now says that any number of inmates over 600 is considered overcrowded. In 2007 the County hired David Bennett Counsulting to thoroughly study the Spokane County Criminal Justice System and at that time the story was that the “downtown jail” could house 675 inmates. What is the real story? It is unfortunate that the press prints what is fed to them rather than go out and investigate and seek the truth. There is no oversight of this jail. With all the contradictions it is not clear that anyone is in charge.
DickAdams on May 31 at 8:03 p.m.
I`m like a broken record. Buy tents and let the culprits live in the out of doors. Its good for them. Look at the money the taxpayers would save. TENTS, SHOULD BE THE BATTLE CRY.
yellowcat on June 01 at 1:07 a.m.
Spokesman review, please do you homework. Ask the sheriff or commissioners some questions. Read the “Spokane County Corrections Needs Assessment,commonly knows as the Bennett report ( http://www.spokanecounty.org/loaddoc.aspx?docid=1609) which the County paid $1.5 million dollars for in 2008. You will find average jail population in 2006 was 1127, in 2007 it was 1108. Average daily population is running less than 800 in 2011. The jail population has dropped by 25%. And the jail is overcrowded now? The public is being mislead by the sheriff’s office and the Spokane County Commissioners. Gieger is not being utilized. Is this a staffing problem by the Sheriff? This “overcrowding” is not because of lack of jail beds.
Read the story about the new Clark County jail in Las Vegas that sits empty because there is no money in the County budget to operate it. This jail was built by the Molasky group who our Commissioners have been in contact with about Spokane’s new jail. Molasky builds jails and leases them to governments. Is Spokane County looking at this option to avoid the ballot and a public vote? Clark County is now paying rent to Molasky of $1,000,000 per month for an empty jail. You know how that jail got built? The same fear was instilled by their sheriff. Watch the video. http://www.ktnv.com/story/14078556/you-paid-for-it
Crime rates have dropped around the country and in Spokane. Our violent crime rates has fallen steadily since 1995 — actually down 32% from 1995. (source:.http://www.communityindicators.ewu.edu/indicators.cfm?id=8). Incarceration rates are dropping around the country because of lower crime rates and the state of the economy if forcing governments to look at alternative incarceration. Spokane has 25 less incarcerated than in 2008. The public is being misled by the Sheriff’s office and the Spokane County Commissioners.
As Mr. Bennett stated in the study referenced above, Spokane’s criminal justice system is broken and until that is fixed, we can’t even think about buying or renting a $200,000,000 jail.
Linda Krogh
MrBloggy on June 01 at 5:51 a.m.
MrBloggy can scarcely gain a neuronal tinder sparking to endeavor to contemplate, hardly grasp at this rate, the mixed messages the people of this forum, who undoubtedly provide a cross-representative stratified sampling of the greater community at large, being sent to brave Sheriff Ozzie and his strike force.
You all get so upset when the deputies administer some street side justice and punch a few smoking .45 rounds through the chest of an ornery Christian pastor defending his property and yet, the alternative, to let these thugs and punks live and cool their jets in the slammer is SO EXPENSIVE A BOONDOGGLE. What do you want, really? A lawless landscape of hellions riding roughshod over good citizens? Time for all good men to step into a Battle Dress Uniform, slap on a badge, load up the Glock, and make Spokane safe again for the heavily armed and commissioned.
D Statler on June 01 at 7:41 a.m.
@ mis justice, The problem is half the responsibility of a MIS MANAGED prosecutors office as well. These dipsticks over charge all the time waiting for their victims to accept a plea. Leave them in jail long enough, they will accept anything just to get out.Put enough charges on someone and something will eventually stick. This system of justice leads to major civil rights violations as well. I cannot believe a NEW prosecutor was not elected last go around. Ozzie and the boys mean well. Their way of thinking needs some attention.Letting the GUILD have too much say has hurt all of us :^(
stillwalkn on June 01 at 10:42 a.m.
462. The number gives me hives. To think of 462 people being in the jail is awful enough. But way back when, the jail was remodeled, at taxpayer expense of course, what else? What was done? Oh yeah, they added double bunking and got rid of the single cells.
So the population of the tower is NOT 462. It is 700+. So stop treating us like we’re dumb, k?
Providing_Buttonholes on June 01 at 10:50 a.m.
Perhaps that new deputy jailer should take responsibility for turning the lights out early? Or their supervisor?
There are two requirements to work in the jail.
1) Go to Rogers High School
2) fail to graduate.
Sounds like a chain of command problem too.
Inmates have one luxury, since there is no tv, newspapers, but just books and when you turn out the lights, you take away their right to be able to read.
Though I have the utmost respect for the OZ, he is somewhat clueless as are his underlings when it comes to incarceratoin.
kennyhuston on June 01 at 12:22 p.m.
Out of 16 different individuals commenting on this topic it appeared to me that ALL16 were in agreement on the widely voiced debate of whether or not we need a new jail. The resounding opinion seems to be “NO!” - not just a “no”. If any of the above posters disagree with my assessment, please indicate your position, (sorry to have misanalysed).
With so much opposition - why is this even a story?
@ Yellowcat - you make an EXCELLENT point! Too bad the SR doesn’t have you writing articles - IMHO your short piece was WAY MORE interesting than the main article!!!
*****HINT****** ******SR EDITORS****** ******HINT******
Just maybe someone might take Yellowcat’s lead and EXPAND?
NO NEW JAIL!!!
Orange on June 03 at 4:56 p.m.
sleep on the floor. Flood them all they want. They’re the one’s getting wet. NO new jail!