Spencer: Commish Shortsighted

I see the county commissioners are again looking at having a private company build a new jail that they would then lease. The problem is that they still haven’t requested an analysis on what their actual needs are. The Federal Department of Justice provides a free “needs analysis” to counties facing capacity problems at their jail facilities, so the counties have an expert unbiased opinion about what their actual needs are and what options they have to mitigate the problem without new construction. The last DOJ needs analysis that county has on record is the one that was requested prior to building the last jail expansion. It would seem like a great first step, but perhaps the county administration doesn’t want to be embarrassed by the revelation that when the last jail expansion was designed, the plans showed a “future inmate housing pod” off the northeast corner of the jail annex that was not built because it was not yet needed/ Larry Spencer , letter to Coeur d’Alene Press editor. More here.

Question: Is Spencer right re: need for Kootenai County to conduct an analysis of jail needs before moving ahead with possible lease for jail space with private contractor?