County studies second jail expansion

Road trips are the last thing Kootenai County jailers want to offer inmates.

But officials say that’s exactly what will happen if the jail isn’t expanded so it can house the skyrocketing population that’s averaging about 326 inmates a day. Some days the jail, which has the capacity to hold 325 people, has 360 inmates.

The looming overcrowding problem will force the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department to ship inmates to other jails such as those in Shoshone County, Bonner County and Sanders County, Montana, Lt. Nile Shirley said Wednesday.

Transporting inmates to other counties will cost local taxpayers a lot more than adding more pods to the current jail.

That’s why the Kootenai County Commission is considering a November election to ask voters to once again approve a half-cent sales tax to expand the facility at the corner of Government Way and Dalton Avenue.

The commission formed an ad hoc advisory committee this week to study the specifics of the proposal – what is needed in the expansion and how much it may cost. The committee should have those answers within the next two months.

Commission Chairman Gus Johnson said it will be a small, less expensive addition than the recent $12 million expansion. The new addition would be funded the same way as the last expansion.

In 2000, voters agreed to pay a half-cent extra in sales tax to fund the $12 million expansion. Half of the extra sales tax money collected each year went to pay off the jail while the other half went to property tax relief. The county expects to pay off the previous expansion in June 2006.

If voters approve the proposal for a second jail expansion in November, then the county would continue charging the extra half-cent sales tax. Johnson said the idea is to ensure that local property owners don’t lose the property tax relief.

The county would have until 2009 to pay off the proposed new expansion, which is when the half-cent local option sales tax law sunsets.

Yet Johnson said he doubts it would take that long to pay off the new addition. He said it may be paid for by December 2007 because the county collects about $8 million annually from the half cent sales tax. Half of that goes to pay for the jail expansion while the remaining $4 million goes to property tax relief.

So if the ad hoc committee recommends a $6 million jail expansion, Johnson said it could be paid off in 18 months.

“The extra half-cent has not deterred any sales in our county,” Johnson said, adding that this track record should help voters embrace the proposal.

The expansion could add as many as 250 new beds, including single-person cells where high-risk inmates are kept, Shirley said.

One of the jail’s biggest struggles is keeping inmates separated, which overcrowding makes difficult.

The jail also lacks storage space, especially in the kitchen. Currently there’s only room to store a four-day supply of food, which could become a problem if there is ever a large storm or a transportation strike, Shirley said.

Johnson said another need is adding two courtrooms to the jail, which would provide space for two more judges and alleviate overcrowding at the county courthouse.

Besides the county’s growing population, one of the main reasons for overcrowding is because the jail is housing many state prisoners.

Watson said about 50 inmates are waiting for transportation to the state penitentiary.

Johnson said it’s a frustrating problem because the state only pays Kootenai County $35 per day to house its inmates. Yet it costs the county $62 to keep them. The commission has asked North Idaho legislators to look into the problem.

“What is the motivation for the state to come get their prisoners?” Johnson said. “Why aren’t they paying us what it costs to house them?”