County Seeks Solution To Cramped Courthouse Employees Must Jockey For Space

At the Benewah County Courthouse, boxes are always stacked in the basement hallway. Three stories up, inmates sometimes don’t have enough bunks and must sleep on the floor. In between, county employees jockey for a place to put their files and their bodies.

“The auditor’s office constantly is rearranging. They keep their elbows out of each other’s faces pretty well. I don’t know how they do it,” said civil defense coordinator George Currier. “People deserve better than this.”

Currier was asked by county commissioners to investigate the options for moving the jail or building a new one. He quickly concluded that the need for space in county offices downstairs was just as pressing. So, he’s recommended expanding the entire 1924-era building.

An architect’s report came up with three options:

Add on to the back of the courthouse by building into the alley and even further onto Benewah Community Hospital property, also owned by the county. Include a new operating room as part of the complex.

Make a smaller addition out the back, extending 35 feet into the alley. In either this scenario or the first, a three-story addition would include a first-story entryway for delivery trucks to reach the hospital.

Demolish the Masonic Temple next door and expand in that direction.

A big advantage to the last option would be minimal disruption to county services during construction. The biggest disadvantage is that many of the Masons object to selling the historic building. It’s older than the courthouse, and one of only two Masonic Temples in the state that originally was built for the fraternal organization, said member John Hughes.

“If the thing were falling down and were a real headache, that would be different,” said Hughes. Besides, he said, “the county would have to pay more than it’s willing or able to pay” to buy the building.

The lodge sits on the only lot in the city block the county doesn’t own. There was talk of razing it when the hospital was expanded, but the same objections were raised.

The commissioners aren’t likely to push the notion against the wishes of the members, Currier said. And the idea of expanding into the hospital space may not happen because the hospital appears to be pushing ahead quickly with plans for its much-needed operating room.

Still, Currier said, nothing has been ruled out.

The courthouse expansion would include a commission hearing room and add handicap-accessible restrooms to bring the building into compliance with federal law.

Each of the expansion scenarios would cost around $2 million, according to estimates by architect Dale Hickman. Passing a bond levy to pay for the construction would require a two-thirds majority, which would be hard to get in this rural county with a depressed timber-based economy.

So commissioners are considering logging or selling some county property to raise the money.

“We don’t have a timeline at all,” said Commissioner Jack Buell.

Buell hasn’t heard from many residents about the need for jail and courthouse expansion. But, he said, “We know we have a situation that we need to correct … I think it’s very important.”

If the jail isn’t improved, the county could be vulnerable to prisoners’ lawsuits, Currier wrote in his report to the commissioners. He noted that more than 400 jails nationwide are under court orders relating to crowding or other conditions.

Although the jail met state standards during a July inspection, Sheriff Joe Blackburn said those standards aren’t very high.

A tiny room with four pieces of fitness equipment is all the county provides in the way of an exercise area. Some of the men are confined in small cells that were part of a battleship’s brig - installed when the courthouse was built 75 years ago.

“We can handle 16 people - providing four of them are females,” said Blackburn. As many as seven women have been crowded into the four-bunk cell.

The expansion would nearly double the jail living space, and add a large recreation area.

The jail also handles prisoners for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. There’s been talk of building a new county-tribal jail but location is an issue. Blackburn said the tribe favors Plummer, where it has its headquarters. But that’s not convenient for handling most county prisoners and is distant from the court.

While commissioners decide the next move, jailers and other county employees share cramped quarters. The sheriff’s small office was carved out of the courtroom space below; its ceiling would be way too low for a tall man wearing a Stetson.

“That’s why they always elect short sheriffs,” Blackburn quipped.