Johnson County spending more to house inmates elsewhere

The Johnson County Jail is bursting at the seams and paying more every year to house inmates in other counties.

The rising costs to send inmates to other jails illustrates the need for a new justice center, said Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek. Last year, the county paid more than $1.3 million to ship its surplus of inmates elsewhere, and Pulkrabek said that spending will continue unless the community supports a bond issue to finance a new justice center.

“Johnson County taxpayer money is being spent in other counties instead of here,” he said.

Since 2001, Johnson County has spent more than $6.2 million housing inmates in other jails, and the cost rises annually, jumping from $900,595 spent in 2008 to $947,216 in 2009 to $1.31 million in 2010, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Those expenses, which do not include transportation costs, are propelled higher by an ever growing inmate population. Johnson County's average daily population was 167 inmates in 2010, up from 144 in 2009 and 135 in 2008.

That growth, and the money being paid to other jails to accommodate the increase, shows the need for a new Johnson County Justice Center, Pulkrabek said.

“We are managing a population, over half of which is located elsewhere,” he said.

On an average day, more Johnson County inmates are held in alternate facilities than inside the local jail. For example, from Aug. 8 to Aug. 14, Johnson County housed an average of 80 inmates a day and shipped an average of 91 people to other jails.

The existing two-story brick Johnson County Jail, built in 1981, was designed to hold 46 inmates. The jail expanded its capacity to 92 by putting two inmates in cells built for one, but the jail's average daily population today hovers around 172.

Most of those inmates are being held on suspicion of major offenses, despite the public perception, Pulkrabek said.

“It is people who are charged with serious crimes who need to be held for the protection of the public,” he said. “It's hard to overcome the public attitude that people think police arrest too many people. But clearly these are not people who are arrested for alcohol offenses.”

At times over the years, Johnson County has paid as much as $60 per inmate per day to house people in other Iowa facilities including the Linn, Marshall and Dubuque county jails. Of late, the county is working mostly with the Washington and Muscatine county jails, which have cut deals to house Johnson County inmates for between $41 and $45 a day and, in some cases, agreed to provide transportation, Pulkrabek said.

Even with the cost breaks and transportation help, according to Pulkrabek, the jail's cramped quarters makes it difficult for attorneys to meet with clients, family members to visit inmates and the jail to launch rehabilitation programs aimed at helping offenders succeed after being released.

Constantly shipping inmates out of Johnson County and then back for court appearances also drains staff time and energy, Pulkrabek said.

Pulkrabek said he's hopeful voters in 2012 will approve a $39 million bond issue for a new justice center, which is planned for the block south of the existing courthouse at 417 South Clinton St. and will include a new jail large enough to hold about 250 people. Johnson County voters in 2000 rejected a $19 million bond issue to build a new jail, exacerbating the overcrowding problem, Pulkrabek said.

Jeff Cox, who was treasurer for the Iowa City-based group Citizens for Alternatives to the New Jail in 2000, said he opposed the bond initiative for a new jail a decade ago because he believed officers were arresting too many people. And, Cox said, he still feels that way.

“I really don't think property tax payers should pay the cost to cover a policy of very high arrest rates,” said Cox, 63, of Iowa City.

He said he might support a jail built to accommodate the current average daily population.

“If they come forward with an expensive jail that has more capacity than 160, it means they are planning to increase the arrest rate above their current levels,” he said, adding that a 250-inmate facility is too big.

But Pat Harney, chairman of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, said he views a new and larger justice center as “necessary” at this point.

“We are paying a lot of dollars out to other counties to house inmates,” Harney said. “And there is so much transportation back and forth for prisoners. We're using a lot of gas.”

Harney is concerned, however, that the floundering economy might become another roadblock for a justice center.

“People aren't going to want to add more to their property taxes,” he said.