Tough climb ahead for Johnson County Jail vote

Johnson County Supervisors are looking to next November to hold a $39 million referendum to fund a sorely needed new justice center -- 12 years after their last bonding effort was shot down at the polls.

A lot has changed since that vote in 2000 -- back when gas cost $1.50 and unemployment was at a 30-year low, back before the Tea Party and round after round after round of belt tightening. The county's going to have to work doubly hard this time around to convince voters to take on the expense of building a new jail -- even though they clearly should.

But even with a decade-plus worth of studies and number crunching all adding up to the incontrovertible fact; even though delaying construction would be about as cost-effective as throwing money down a well, some jail opponents -- sometimes those very opponents who were so vocal the last time around -- still say the answer isn't to build adequate facilities, but to just stop arresting so many people.

That's not going to happen. And it wouldn't solve the problem if it did.

It's not petty offenders that are causing the overflow but long-term inmates, often violent offenders, serving sentences mandated by the state. The smaller fish are booked more in the style of catch-and-release -- spending only a few hours behind bars for their crimes.

In fact, despite all that's been done to minimize the inmate population, Johnson County hit a milestone this year -- boarding more inmates in other counties than it does inside its own jail cells. It now costs more than $1 million each year to do that -- a cost that's not going away on its own.

A new jail with a reasonable capacity would eliminate those boarding fees and additional travel costs. It would be more efficient to run. It would be safer. It's got to be done.

Now the county's just got to make their case to the voters.