New Johnson County jail should have enough room

The proper size for a new Johnson County jail is being discussed. The county keeps the population of the current facility at about 65 inmates. But the average daily population is about 89, which requires paying other counties to house between 15 and 50 inmates each day.

Jail experts at Shive Hattery propose 140 beds, a number some have claimed is too large. The Sheriff and others feel the number is right. So what evidence does each side have?

In 6 of the past 13 months, the jail’s average daily population was above 92. Those arguing for only 92 beds are supporting a building that would already be too small on the day it opens! That is exactly what supervisors did in 1980, and we have been paying for it ever since.

Some note that we are arresting fewer people now. That’s true! It’s one of the things I am most proud of in my career as a supervisor. When former Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek and I started, Johnson County jailed about 160 people every night. The average now is about 60% of what it used to be, even as the Johnson County population has risen from 119,000 in 2004 to 160,000 today.

There are lots of reasons for that decrease. We trained every public safety officer in Johnson County in Crisis Intervention Training (CIT). We started Mobile Crisis Response. We essentially decriminalized marijuana. We opened the GuideLink Center. Little-seen efforts include case expediting, specialty courts and better relationships throughout the various “systems,” to name a few We have done a lot, and I am damned proud of it!

Because of that, the Johnson County jail population today is much different that it was 20 years ago. There are not many people in jail now who could be released on their own recognizance. The vast majority are either a threat to themselves, a threat to others, a flight risk or some combination of those factors.

European social democracies still have jails, and their incarceration rates are not much lower than rates in Johnson County. Even with birth-to-death free health care, great schools, free child care, guaranteed pensions, less income inequality and strict gun laws, these societies have jails. Regardless of how much we invest upstream, downstream, Johnson County is still going to need some jail beds. We cannot obviate the need for a new jail. France, Germany, and every other social democracy in the world has tried. And they still have jails.

I understand that there are people who want the jail to be smaller. Based upon what factors? We know we have had 115 inmates more than once. Does the public want to spend the money on a new facility and still have to pay to house prisoners out of county? I very much doubt it.

Local examples also demonstrate why this thinking is wrong. The Iowa City Free Medical Clinic recently undertook an expansion. In a perfect world, there should be no need for free medical clinics, let alone a larger one. But reality intervenes.

We deal with this all the time in county government. Do we want to have a few too many ballots, or not enough ballots? A little extra salt and sand, or not enough? A little extra money to get through the year, or not enough? Those answers are obvious. The same applies to jail beds. Do we want to have a few extra, or not enough? I want a few extra!

You can argue, “If you build it, they will just fill it.” But there is no evidence to back that up. Look at my earlier examples. Do we put down extra salt and sand just because we have it? No, save it for later use. Do we spend extra money just because we have it? No, we carry it forward.

I have been here long enough to know what happens when elected officials kick the can down the road. Tomorrow’s taxpayers always pay the price for decisions elected officials make today. We see it with the current jail. They did not allow space for future growth. They specifically eliminated bigger footings that would allow a vertical expansion. They hamstrung future boards and in doing so, hamstrung the taxpayers of today.

I have tried very hard to make sure we do not hurt future boards and future taxpayers. I think we need to design and build buildings with the idea that they are going to last at least 75 years. We need to take that same approach to building a jail.

Rod Sullivan is a Johnson County Supervisor.