Candidates debate need for bigger jail

For over a decade Kootenai County officials have wrestled with how to tackle jail crowding knowing that voters don’t want to raise property taxes to pay for a construction project. As he comes to the end of his first term, Sheriff Ben Wolfinger continues to push for more jail beds. The share of inmates who are felons has grown to 70 to 75 percent of the jail population – “the people you really want in jail,” he said. Wolfinger also believes the county spends too much housing overflow inmates in other jails around the region. Including transportation costs, the county has shelled out $3.2 million over the past five years to keep inmates in other lockups. After years of weighing proposals to build a larger county jail or expand the one built 30 years ago, county officials recently decided to have an architect design an addition that could be funded from county reserves/ Scott Maben , SR. More here. (Tyler Tjomsland, 2013 SR file photo of Kootenai County Jail)