Problem awaits solution

By NICHOLAS LEDDEN

Overcrowding pushes need for new jail higher on county's priority list

The Daily Inter Lake

At 21 years old, the Flathead County Detention Center seems to have weathered the years well.

But with increases in crime along with the county population - there are 2,300 people with active outstanding warrants - it may not prove adequate much longer.

County officials, from the detention commander up to the county commissioners, know overcrowding is an issue that soon will have to be addressed.

Authorities have commissioned a study by Architects Design Group, Inc. - the firm originally hired to design the Flathead County Detention Center - to outline a range of possible solutions to the expansion question.

The study will combine the jail's spatial and structural requirements projected over a 20-year period with the most cost-effective way of meeting them.

However, there is no timetable in place and no course of action has been agreed upon or formally considered, according to county commissioners.

"I think everybody realizes the jail is overcrowded most of the time," Flathead County Commissioner Dale Lauman said. "This is an issue and it is an issue with the county government."

But it's not yet to the point where commissioners have to immediately throw up a new building or risk chaos in the streets, Commissioner Joe Brenneman said, adding that the facility is in good shape and efforts to reduce the jail's population have so far been successful.

"It's high up on the list of priorities right now," he said. "The need for a new jail undoubtedly exists."

Lauman and Brenneman conducted one of their regular tours of the jail on Thursday.

The Detention Center was built in 1986 with an intended capacity of 64 inmates.

Its official capacity now is 86.

When the prisoner count reaches 92, detention officers start accepting only felons and violent misdemeanants.

"At 107, we literally have no more floor space left," Detention Commander Kathy Frame said.

Officials added six beds by converting the library to a dormitory with tightly packed cots. The books now are on carts. Of the jail's 45 regular cells, 32 now have a second, wall-hung bunk.

"We've passed the point of being inventive," said Frame. "We can't keep pulling a rabbit out of a hat."

So, after a National Institute of Corrections study on overcrowding in 2006, county officials implemented a strategic "catch and release" program to keep the inmate population down.

By collective consensus, the county attorney, courts, arresting officers, and detention center staff sort out the nonviolent offenders from those who absolutely must be locked up.

"We've made a lot of headway, but we still have a critical need," said Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan, whose office oversees the jail.

When the jail is at capacity, a felony bad check writer might be released to make room for somebody accused of assault.

"If a person presents a danger to the community, absolutely they will be incarcerated," Frame said.

But while the constant processing of inmates in and out of jail keeps the general jail population to a manageable level, it also created a new problem, Frame said.

"That opened the door to this huge increase in the volume of inmates we book in and book out, which is severely taxing the jail," she said.

In 2004, detention officers booked and released 54 people. Another 257 people were booked and incarcerated for more than 24 hours. In 2005, 199 people were booked and released. Another 969 people were booked and incarcerated for more than 24 hours.

Then in 2006, after the National Institute of Corrections study to address overcrowding, the number of people booked and released dropped to 138 and the number of people booked and incarcerated for more than 24 hours fell to 698.

But then, in only the first six months of 2007, the number of people booked and released jumped to 405 - an increase of 650 percent over the 2004 year-end total - and the number of people booked and incarcerated for more than 24 hours rose to 1,936 - an increase of 653 percent over the 2004 year-end total.

The increase in 2007 surpassed the full-year 2005 and 2006 totals combined.

"Every agency that uses the jail has been incredibly responsive to options other than incarceration, but we're running out of alternatives," Frame said.

In other words, the temporary solution to overcrowding - the release of nonviolent offenders - created a whole new problem, Frame said. The total number of people processed in and out of the jail by detention workers is steadily on the rise, severely straining the detention center's resources.

In the first three months of 2004, there were 614 total processes. In the first three months of 2006, that number had climbed to 736. In the first three months of 2007, total processes reached 944.

Total processes in 2007 hit approximately 3,600.

The total number of processes so far in 2008 are on pace to outstrip those in 2007. In the first 25 days of January, 408 people were either booked or released.

"We're moving more people through the system, which had quadrupled the jail's workload. The figures are absolutely bananas," Frame said.

And it's not unusual to book somebody with four to six charges, Frame said. She said a significant percentage of the prisoners released due to lack of room will be back, whether on contempt charges for missing a court date, alleged commission of a new crime, or violation of the terms of their release.

"It demonstrates how badly the jail is overtaxed now," Frame said.

And the resources spent moving all those prisoners through the system means less can be allocated to other functions.

"It's stretching our resources to provide prisoners with the basic things, like contact with their families during a visiting day," Frame said.

The number of people moving through the system is largely the result of a growing population.

"For 20 years this jail has managed to meet the county's needs fairly well," she said. "But the reality of it is, when the population is growing, services need to grow as well."

Solutions to the manageable overcrowding in the Flathead County Detention Center appear to be on the somewhat distant horizon. County commissioners, the Sheriff's Office, and a jail committee made up of agencies housed in the Justice Center are in the process of investigating solutions to the jail's space constraints - solutions that may well be found in the Architects Design Group study currently under way.

Several options have been considered in the past.

A few years ago, the jail committee came up with a plan for a 28,000-square-foot expansion that would have added 100 additional beds. It was not adopted.

The expansion included plans for a two-tiered structure built on stilts with cell blocks on the second story and parking underground. It would have added approximately 100 beds, doubling the current jail's capacity, Frame said.

The cost would have run about $13 million to $16 million.

"We need to find which options are the best, most feasible, and most cost-effective," Lauman said.

The most likely and cost-effective option at this point appears to be some sort of expansion into the Justice Center's west parking lot.

"I think it's a good idea to build on something we've already invested in," Frame said. "Out of everything I've heard so far, this is the best plan."

But any expansion to the jail wouldn't be just a one-time cost, she added.

The jail has 25 detention officers. Realistically, that means four officers work each shift, Frame said. Adding 100 new inmates would mean adding 20 prisoners for each officer to watch. The jail would need to hire at least three more officers per shift.

"And that carries a big price tag," Frame said.

The Detention Center spends about $300,000 a year on wages alone, never mind operational expenses, medical attention for inmates, food, and transportation. Kitchen and laundry services would also have to be expanded, Frame said.

"As you can see, it would be a huge investment," Frame said. "The issue becomes how much the county and the taxpayers can afford. Right now it depends on the county's priorities. I'm glad that's not my decision."

Officials have also considered building an entirely new facility, but the price tag on that could easily top $50 million.

"Our jail is in good shape, and I just can't see going to a separate building and starting from scratch," Meehan said.

Finding a location for a new jail could also prove troublesome, Meehan said.

"I think if we abandoned this building, we would find a lot of 'not in my backyard' syndrome from neighbors of the proposed site."

And planners see housing the jail and the courts in the same facility as a "critical" component to any solution, Frame said.

Other alternatives include building an off-site wing and keeping the current jail or moving one of the other offices out of the Justice Center and allowing the jail to expand into that vacated space.

Commissioners stressed that any addition to the Justice Center would include a plan to alleviate pressure on the other offices in the building, which are all also overcrowded. The Justice Center houses the Sheriff's Office, County Attorney's Office, District Court, Justice Court, and the Clerk of Court's office in addition to the jail.

"Let's consider all the options that effectively use taxpayer dollars," Brenneman said.

"We realize the tax burden is quite heavy and there are a lot of public service needs," Lauman said. "It's a tough decision because they're all good projects and they're all needed projects."

In addition to a new facility, several detention programs have been suggested to reduce the jail's population. One alternative is allowing non-violent offenders convicted of some misdemeanors to serve their time on weekends.

Another is the construction of a pre-release center through the District Court to oversee inmates' release before trial. County commissioners and the Kalispell city government have already moved to create a community working committee to evaluate that option. Such centers already exist and have proven their efficacy in Bozeman, Great Falls, Billings, and Missoula, Frame said.

Four beds already have been devoted to the county's work-release program, which received its first participant in September. Inmates work during the day at their normal jobs but return to their cells to sleep.

But expanding the jail without expanding anti-crime initiatives will just put the county back in its current situation, albeit in a number of years down the road.

"Even if you build a 200-bed jail but don't look for alternative ways to combat crime, you're just going to end up back where you started," Meehan said.

Any expansion of the jail must be accompanied by augmented community-based services, Frame said.

"We need balance in the system to that jail isn't the only option for everybody," Frame said.

Treatment, counseling, job placement services, and viable housing options all are components in reducing the inmate population.

"All those things we take for granted are a struggle for some people," Frame said. "Sometimes they just need a little bit of help to stay on track."

While there a number of private, often faith-based, support services around the county, they are too small and too poorly funded to handle the volume of demand, Frame said. Publicly funded support services are one option, Frame added.

"You either pay now for those services or you pay later when you see them back in jail," Frame said.

Discussion about expanding the jail began when it started getting consistently overcrowded in about 2002, Frame said.

"But within the next five years, there will be some sort of movement made," she predicted.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com