OUTAGAMIE BOARD REJECTS NEW JAIL

Citing Drug War, Supervisors Say The Answer Lies In Incarcerating Fewer People

A sharply contentious Outagamie County Board rejected the recommendations
of its own space needs committee, and the wishes of County Executive Toby
Paltzer, by voting Tuesday against building a new jail.

The proposed $17.7 million Huber law jail and sheriff's department
administration building is the centerpiece of a $31.2 million building and
remodeling program designed to accommodate an expanding district attorney's
office, new courts and continuing increases in the number of people
sentenced to jail with work-release privileges.

The resolution supporting a new jail failed on a 23-14 vote.

The board also rejected a second key component of the plan a recommendation
by the Space Needs Project Oversight Committee that the county's old health
care center be razed, allowing the new jail to be built in its place, at
the county's 38-acre campus on W. Brewster Street in Grand Chute.

In rejecting the plan, several supervisors said the proposed jail, designed
to meet criteria established by the Department of Corrections for housing
state inmates in leased cells, would cost too much. They also railed
against state laws and local prosecutors who send more people to jail every
year.

Several supervisors responded to arguments that the county will incur large
costs to transport its inmates to other counties if it does not add new
jail beds by suggesting fewer arrests and alternatives to jail, such as
electronic bracelets that allow authorities to monitor a person outside jail.

"We won't have to transport people if they are not in the jail to begin
with," said Supv. Al Schmidt. "The jail should be for protecting the public
from criminals. We should not jail people who are not a threat to society."

Supv. James Duncan pointed to initiatives on the West Coast designed to
keep first-time offenders out of jail. He said the United States
incarcerates too many of its citizens.

"Quite frankly, our war on drugs has become a war on the American people,"
Duncan said. "We incarcerate more people than anyone."

He said a new jail would be "a monument to our failures."

Supvs. Dean Culbertson, Cliff Sanderfoot, Lloyd Kloehn, Mike Meyers and
others sought to keep attention focused on the research conducted by the
special space needs committee.

"I will vote for this resolution, not because I want to, but because I
think it makes better sense down the road," said Meyers, who cited
long-term savings on staff costs that can result from a new and efficient
design.

"I can't support this," responded Supv. Bob Spahn. "If we can't build a
cheap building for these guys (inmates), let's put them in bracelets."

Culbertson said calls for changes in state law and a desire for less costly
alternatives will not solve the county's space crunch.

"Those are good ideas, but how realistic are they?" he asked. "It's a
beautiful dream but it's not going to happen. Vote as you think you have
to, but don't think this situation will go away."

Sheriff Brad Gehring, who observed the proceedings, said afterward that
Culbertson was right, that laws will not change quickly enough, if at all,
to help the county. New laws creating or enlarging jail penalties are
adopted every year, he said.

"The state Legislature has been riding this wave of get tough on crime, and
now we are reaping the cost of that," Gehring said.