Johnson County moving forward with plans for 120 bed jail

IOWA CITY — The Johnson County Board of Supervisors is moving forward with plans for a new sheriff’s office and 120-bed jail. The decision comes after more than a year of disagreement between board members over the size of the proposed facility.

Board members have advocated for a number of beds ranging from 92 to 140 after Shive Hattery completed a space needs assessment in the summer of 2024 that called for an $80 million, 140-bed facility.

Following discussion at a work session Thursday, the board agreed to move forward with plans to build the footprint of a building with enough space for 140 beds but to only include 120 beds in the initial build.

“The number that I keep returning to is 2075 because I think we have a responsibility to put forth a facility that potentially could serve the county for five decades,” said board chair Jon Green. “… just to try and tie a bow around this whole thing, compromise on a solution nobody is happy with, but … hopefully we can get 80 percent there, even if the 20 percent deficiency is a little different for all of us.”

The board is in the process of working with the county’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee to develop a final building plan so it can put a bond referendum for the new facility on the November 2026 ballot.

Current facility is at operational capacity

Shive-Hattery’s space needs assessment called for 140 beds based on estimated population growth over the proposed lifetime of a new facility. The board commissioned the assessment over concerns about deterioration of the current facility and limited space for modern day operations.

Supervisors V Fixmer-Oraiz and Mandi Remington have argued that the assessment doesn’t adequately take into account that despite county population growth, local crime and incarceration rates have been on a downward trend.

Both supervisors also have advocated for using the savings from building a smaller facility to fund crime diversion efforts.

“I will say that my preference is 100,” Fixmer-Oraiz said. “If the board is at 120 I will support the will of the board. But everything that I have seen counters that.”

Remington was absent from the work session Thursday, but provided a written statement to the board that reiterated her desire to have 92 beds.

When the current jail was opened in 1981, it was built with a capacity for 46 beds and the ability to add bunks to increase capacity to 92. However, Sheriff Brad Kunkel said the jail has an operational capacity of 65.

The operational capacity is an internal number set to manage the potential for inmate conflicts, those appearing in court for initial appearances as well as managing different classification types.

“In a new facility, we would have some housing units that are bigger to accommodate just more people, and then more smaller ones, so we could accommodate the one offs of a juvenile in custody. … We have so many complicated housing issues now that are made worse by the fact we have a limited number of housing options,” said Kunkel.

While Kunkel has been a proponent of 140 beds, he said he’s comfortable with the consensus of 120 beds.

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The county routinely has more than 65 inmates at a given time. So far in 2025, the county has had a monthly average of 78 to 92 inmates. However, the number of inmates in county custody at one time can vary greatly from day to day.

Those numbers include people who are on electronic monitors on house arrest, which is routinely fewer than 10 people in custody on average over the course of a month.

As a result, the county has been housing inmates outside of Johnson County and has spent nearly $16 million doing so over the last 20 years. Though generally, the county is spending less and sending fewer inmates out of county each year.

Between 2021 and 2023, the county paid an average of $387,000 a year to house inmates out of county, according to county data.

In 2024 the county spent around $376,000 housing inmates out of county, averaging around 18.5 inmates housed of county per month, according to Sheriff’s office data.

Those numbers reflect housing costs and do not include the expense of staff time or transportation-related costs.

Additionally, the cost to house out of county is subject to change depending on the rates other facilities set.

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Board considering bonding for affordable housing efforts

The board came to a general agreement to explore a bond referendum for up to $99 million to cover the cost of a new sheriff’s office and jail while directing any other funds to affordable housing.

The final cost of a new sheriff’s office and jail still is unclear as the county needs to acquire land and finalize a building plan.

While the board has discussed the role of social services and diversion measures throughout the process of working toward the future of the sheriff’s office and jail, Thursday’s work session was the first time the possibility of directing bond funds to affordable housing efforts has been brought up.

A proposal for how the county could use its bond capacity to address issues of affordable housing still is to be determined, but members of the board plan to discuss it in the coming weeks. The board has acknowledged that even millions of dollars would not be enough to address housing needs.

“To fix housing here in our county is a billion dollar investment, and all the local governments together don't have a billion dollars to put into it,” said Supervisor Rod Sullivan. “The people of Johnson County need to understand that we know what our lane is and where we fit, and I think we can make a difference for people, but we can't fix it. And if we tell people we can fix it, I don't think that's fair to them.”

Additionally, the board still will need to iron out concerns surrounding bond language and the intricacies of potentially bonding for more than one project.

“I'm just giving a warning of please, as you move along and bond in the future, just remember, there's more cost to a bond than just the interest you pay back,” said County Treasurer Scott Finlayson. “There's high priced lawyers, there's arbitrage lawyers, there's a lot of costs that come with it.”

The county has previously tried to finance jail improvements through bond referendums in 2012 and 2013. Both proposals received more than 50 percent approval from voters, but failed because they needed 60 percent to pass.

Comments: megan.woolard@thegazette.com

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