Sheriff pursues assessment on needs for the jail

     Is a new jail in store for Jones County in the near future?

     The results from a needs assessment could prove just that…

     During the June 23 Jones County Board of Supervisor meeting, Sheriff Greg Graver provided an update to the board concerning the over-crowded jail and costs associated with such.

     The current inmate status in Jones County is roughly 20 inmates per day. As of last week, seven of those inmates had to be transported and housed out-of-county in Delaware County because the Jones County Jail is at capacity.

     “We have no space,” Graver said matter-of-factly.

     Female inmates are kept in the holding cell, while express male inmates occupy the exercise room within the jail.

     “We’ve been doing that for the last four weeks,” Graver said of the housing situation. “It’s not ideal, but it’s the only option we have.”

     The projected costs, Graver offered, that the county pays to house inmates outside of the county is $10,000 a month.

     “This will sustain us short-term,” he continued. “Long-term, it can’t sustain us.”

     He said there is money in his budget that could go toward the out-of-county expenses.

     “That is a very short-term fix for a long-term problem,” prefaced Graver. “I don’t see it getting any better.”

     Delaware County recently opened its new 40-bed jail facility in Manchester.

     “They’re numbers are low,” said Graver.

     Jones County’s jail situation is nothing new; Graver said many older jail facilities are facing the same problems throughout the state.

     “There is a back-up with the court system,” Graver said of the backlog stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. “And I don’t see it improving. We don’t have the space.”

     Any time the county jail is inspected, Graver shared the county is put on notice concerning future needs.

     “There are some facilities worse than ours,” he added.

     However, since some counties have either built new jails or bonded for such projects, Jones County’s jail is quickly moving to the top of the list.

     “I just don’t think we have the time,” warned Graver of kicking the can down the road too much longer.

     In 2018, the county contracted with Shive-Hattery, Inc. for an overall county needs assessment. It highlighted issues throughout the entire courthouse, not just the jail.

     “We have the groundwork,” noted Graver, “for how we need to move forward.”

     The study back then pointed out that the jail did not have enough staff to operate the current facility with the inmates the county had. Graver said after 2019, he doubled the number of staff to take care of that problem.

     Graver asked the board to allow him to reach out to Shive-Hattery and see about an updated needs assessment, and what the county’s next steps might be moving forward concerning the jail.

     Two years ago, the cost for the assessment was $19,000, and it took a few months to complete the report.

     “We can have them put some numbers together for an assessment and future needs,” he said.

     The board approved Graver’s request.

     “We need to start somewhere,” commented Supervisor Joe Oswald.

     Graver said he had been approached by the owner of the old Jones Regional hospital in Anamosa, expressing interest in turning the building into a new jail and sheriff’s office-combined facility.

     “What’s the best way to utilize taxpayers’ dollars?” proposed Graver about using an existing building or starting from scratch and building new.

     He added that CARES Act funding could potentially help pay for a percentage of the costs, noting that the problem certainly stems from the ongoing effects of the pandemic.

     The ultimate project would involve a bond issue passing and taxpayer support.

     “But we can’t have that discussion until we know what we’re looking at,” Graver said of the assessment piece.