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Tribune/Barry Kough
The inside of a county jail, like the cells at the Lewis County Jail at Nezperce and the fortified hallway at the Clearwater County Jail at Orofino, aren't common views for most people.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT:
Small-town jails face big-city woes: Drug addiction, Mental illness, Violent felons; Life in county jails just isn't what it used to be
By KERRI SANDAINE
of the Tribune
Twenty years ago, most of the inmates in a small-town jail woke up behind bars after a hard night of drinking.
Today the cells are more likely to be full of felons with a history of violence. Many are dealing with severe drug problems, mental illnesses, or other significant health problems.
"One of the biggest issues we face today is a change in inmates," Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers said.
"We have seen a big shift from people in on minor charges to serious, repeat offenders. A lot of these offenders are more violent, and they are more combative than they used to be."
"They usually aren't the sharpest people in the community," said Lt. Steve Lutes, jail commander at Nez Perce County. "A lot of them have mental problems. They don't play well with others."
Those are just some of the issues law enforcement officials in this area deal with on a daily basis.
The death of an inmate in Asotin County, temporary closure of Lewis County's jail, and the future replacement of an outdated jail in Nez Perce County have thrust jail problems in the public spotlight.
The Lewiston Tribune contacted officials in eight counties to talk about the challenges of running jails. Staffing shortages, lack of funding, and over-crowding top their list of concerns.
"In this day and age, there is a challenge around every corner," Myers said, "from ensuring inmates have their legal rights to making sure they receive proper health care and food as mandated by law."
On the positive side, jails can have an orderly and calm atmosphere without a lot of major disruptions, officials said.
"The key is good verbal communication with inmates," Garfield County Sheriff Larry Bowles said. "We've never had a big fight in our jail."
Most tense situations can be defused by talking to the prisoners, agreed Nez Perce County Sheriff Jim Dorion.
"You really can't be sympathetic, but you have to be empathetic," Dorion said. "You have to look at their situations. Our job is detention only. To be antagonistic makes the job a lot harder."
> Overcrowding
Nez Perce County farms out prisoners from Weiser to Wallace because of a lack of bed space.
"We are spending a lot of money to house prisoners in other counties," Sheriff Jim Dorion said.
It costs an average of $5,100 a month to keep Nez Perce County prisoners in other jails. Add in the transport, fuel and manpower costs, and the price tag is kicked up to about $8,000 a month.
A new jail with 152 beds is supposed to be ready in 2008. It will be paid for in large part by half of the funds generated from a half-cent sales tax increase, approved by county voters.
But during the design and construction process, officials will continue to house prisoners in the old jail on the top floor of the courthouse and deal with the overcrowding issue.
"We do the best we can with what we have," Dorion said.
The new Nez Perce County jail may also help solve problems of housing inmates who are mentally ill.
Jail plans call for three or four rooms in its medical wing to house mentally ill inmates.
County Commissioner Ron Wittman said commissioners were approached by District Judge John Bradbury about putting these types of rooms in the new jail. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare mental health division, which provides mental health evaluations for inmates, has also been consulted about the idea.
The commissioners asked the architects months ago to add the rooms into the plans, he said.
Having these rooms on site would save the county money by not having to pay for inmates to be taken to the psychiatric floor at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, or the security to monitor them.
Other sheriffs are also facing overcrowding.
"Our jail is maxed out all the time," Asotin County Sheriff Wayne Weber said.
"Our jail is outdated. We have to start stacking prisoners because I have no money to house them in other county jails."
In Clearwater County, lack of jail space is one of Sheriff Alan Hengen's biggest challenges.
"There are not enough beds to separate prisoners," Hengen said. "We have to swap with other counties when we need to isolate an inmate."
Asotin County has had to release some prisoners early because of overcrowding.
"The judges help us out a lot when it comes to overcrowding," Weber said. "They do their best to coordinate the sentences with jail capacity. If it wasn't for Judge (Ray) Lutes and Judge (Bill) Acey, I don't know what we'd do."
"There's an old saying about jails," said Superior Court Judge Acey, who presides over the Hells Canyon Circuit in Asotin, Garfield and Columbia counties. "Build them and the judges will fill them. There always will be plenty of customers. Every judge has to be sensitive to jail capacity."
Jail crowding has been an issue in Washington since 1984, Acey said. That's when a sentencing reform act was enacted, which requires any felony sentence of 365 days or less to be served at a county jail instead of a state prison .
"But make no mistake, we will always make room for the most serious offenders," he said.
> Staffing shortages
Lack of staffing forced Lewis County Sheriff Phil Steen to empty his jail for more than a month.
"We usually have only one jailer on each shift, and we could use more," Steen said. "But we do what we have to do."
Other counties are feeling the pinch because jail budgets don't have room for a bunch of new hires.
"Staffing has got to be our hugest problem in Latah County," said Jennifer McFarland, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office. "We just don't have the money."
Two or three jailers are on duty most shifts, but there are times when only one detention officer is working, McFarland said, because the other officers are in training, sick or handling transport duties.
Turnover is another staffing issue at jails, said Idaho County Sheriff Larry Dasenbrock.
"Because of the lower wages, people come and go," Dasenbrock said. "We train them and then they move on to somewhere else. It takes a while to retrain people for those positions."
Others use the jail as a springboard to another career in law enforcement.
"It's a starting place where they can get their foot in the door and get some of the necessary training they need," Dasenbrock said.
The starting salary at the Idaho County Jail is $19,476 for someone without training or experience.
> Funding woes
The money to run a jail comes out of a county's general fund. Sheriffs are in charge, but the commissioners hold the purse strings.
"Funding is always an issue for any law enforcement agency," Sheriff Dasenbrock said.
"It's the duty of the county commissioners to do their best to provide the funding necessary to operate the county, and the jail is part of the county."
Paying for inmates' medical bills and prescription drugs is eating up a big chunk of county coffers, Garfield County Sheriff Larry Bowles said.
"Once they come in your jail, you're kind of stuck," Bowles said. "They all seem to have some medical issue."
About 15 percent to 20 percent of his annual budget goes toward medical expenses of inmates.
In Garfield County, all 16 employees of the sheriff's office are cross trained to share jail duties. Deputies have to take inmates to the hospital, doctor's office or dentist, as needed.
"We have a policy with the dentist," Bowles said. "Generally, if someone has a aching tooth, it gets pulled."
Myers said the majority of inmates in Whitman County also need some form of medical attention.
"We see a lot of repeat offenders who have diverse health needs we didn't see 10 years ago, from more serious physical ailments to serious mental health issues," Myers said.
"Our jail guards are almost expected to be EMTs/nurses on the side. They have to give out meds and monitor inmates' conditions. They have to be trained in what they're looking at."
In Asotin County, the inmates' medical expenses are running about $10,248 a month, Jail Commander Robert Walling said.
Prisoners are charged for their medical care and prescription drugs, but it's difficult to collect, Walling said.
> Solutions
When it comes to funding, the sheriffs responsible for running jails in this region said there's no magic money tree to shake at the state or federal level.
As a result, voters are increasingly being asked to bail out their local jails.
"The state has their own problems at the Department of Corrections level," Myers said. "The way the state looks at jail issues is it's the local jurisdictions' responsibility. Occasionally grants are available, but it usually boils down to local taxpayers."
In the past few years, Asotin County voters have shot down various ballot measures aimed at increasing law and justice budgets.
Nez Perce County voters approved the sales tax option that will help fund a new jail, and in Whitman County, voters approved a 0.01 percent sales tax option to help cover jail expenses.
'That's been a big blessing for Whitman County and this jail," Myers said. "We're very appreciative our citizens recognized the need for a quality jail in our county."
In Clearwater County, jail costs are offset by contracts with the state and other agencies to house prisoners, Hengen said.
Orofino's Nick Albers, executive director and jail coordinator of the Idaho Sheriffs Association, said he would like to see a cooperative effort between counties and the state to address jail problems.
"I think it would make a lot better sense if the state partnered with the counties and helped them build facilities where state inmates could be held," Albers said.
"That way the money could be kept in the state. It would increase pay for staff and increase professionalism."
But the possible solutions won't happen overnight, he said.
"There is no silver bullet that will cure everything."
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Sandaine may be contacted at kerris@lmtribune.com or at (208) 743-9600, ext. 264.
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