Five members of the Marshall County Council (Judy Stone, Jim Masterson, Jack Roose, Mandy Campbell, and Jon VanVactor) meet for a special work session on Monday morning, concerning the Jail Expansion project.
Last week the County Commissioners unanimously decided to slow down the process and recommended the County Council postpone the third reading of the bond ordinance to allow for more research and public input.
During the work session, Council President Judy Stone said some members asked for the work session. She said she’s been heavily involved in the process for about 2 year. Currently there are 19 law suits plus the ACLU case against the county pertaining to the jail and the overcrowding situation. Stone said that Monday morning there were 294 inmates in the jail with a maximum capacity of 239.
The floor was then open for council members to ask questions. Councilman Jim Masterson wanted to hear from the Sheriff on his recommendation for the number of additional beds needed.
Sheriff Matt Hassel said he thought if the county only added 100 beds and the population keeps growing the county would be back in the same situation in 3 years. The sheriff reminded the council his highest population has been 308. He said he felt they should build the exterior completely and then you could add cell blocks in as needed.
Councilwoman Mandy Campbell asked about funding the operational cost of the jail addition in the long run. It was noted that as the new additional fills up additional staff would be needed. Just to open the doors would require 4 to 7 new employees and when the new jail pod is full it would take a total of 17 employees to operate it.
Judy Stone said they could operate for a year or two but would eventually need to implement a tax increase for operational expenses. She said it could be a fraction of a percent rather than a whole percentage.
Masterson also wanted to hear from the Judges on their thoughts on the correct direction to go and clarification on their reasoning for having cash bonds instead of surety bonds.
Councilwoman Stone suggested he contact Judge Bowen and meet with him on his own. She said she has heard the explanation but didn’t feel confident enough to explain it to the council.
The sheriff also talked about programs. He said currently the offer MRT (Moral Recognition Therapy) and NA a substance abuse and treatment program. Grant money and commissary funds are currently funding the programs but he has opportunity for more programming but there is no space in the jail to offer them.
The sheriff said of the 249 inmates, 35 are participating in programs. While that is only 14% there is always a waiting list of 20 to 25 waiting for space to join the programming. He also commented that many times an inmate will say if it will reduce my sentence I will participate.
Sheriff Hassel said, “A jail is no longer a place to house inmates. They want treatment, they want education, they want job skill training…they want up to do that all now. We are no longer just a holding facility.”
The County Council work session went on for two hours but since it was a work session no decisions or determinations could be made. It was basically a fact finding meeting with a few comments from those who attended.
