INMATE OVERFLOW

Jail Overcrowding Creates Costly Problems For Boone County

Because the Boone County Jail has faced a steady increase in the
number of inmates, it has had to place some inmates in private
facilities.

In the late 1990s, Boone County law enforcement officials, faced with the
rising cost of housing inmates at out-of-county facilities, discussed
building a new jail. The problem became acute in 1998, when the county spent
more than $650,000 to incarcerate inmates in other jails.

By the end of the decade, the average daily population at the Boone
County Jail had stabilized at about 200 inmates. Talk of building a
new jail waned, and instead the work-release section of the jail was
renovated to accommodate more inmates.

Inmates on the rise Now, the population at the Boone County Jail,
which was constructed in 1991 and has 210 beds, has started to climb
again. Last year, the number of inmates requiring incarceration
reached a daily average of 223. According to County Auditor June
Pitchford, Boone County spent $273,300 to house inmates elsewhere last
year - up from $110,400 in 2002. Those costs do not include
transportation of the prisoner to and from the out-of-county facility
for court appearances.

According to Lt. Keith Hoskins, assistant administrator at Boone
County Jail, rising jail populations are a national trend.

"We're no different from everywhere else," Hoskins said.

Maj. Warren Brewer, the jail's administrator, said overcrowding has
been the trend since he began working at the facility in 1981. The
county has been paying to house inmates elsewhere since 1994, he said,
just three years after the current jail was built. Brewer said the
reason for the steady increase in inmates has eluded county officials.

"If I could answer that question, I'd be a rich man," Brewer said. "We
have a high population, then we'll go through a lull and then another
high."

Reality House helping with overflow Since 2000, Reality House, a
private facility for low-risk offenders, has helped with the jail's
overflow. Reality House costs Boone County $25 a day per prisoner and
is the first place Brewer looks to when the jail is full. Typically,
Reality House can hold 15 to 20 prisoners from the jail, and when that
space is taken up, Brewer looks for available jail beds in surrounding
counties.

Boone County sends prisoners to facilities in Miller, Cooper, Cole,
Callaway, Saline and Chariton counties at a cost of about $30 to $35 a
day - down from about $50 a day in the late 1990s when the supply of
available beds was lower. Boone County also contracts with Warren
County, although at $43 a day, it is a last resort.

Last month, on any given day, Boone County paid out-of-county
facilities to house anywhere from a handful to two-dozen inmates.

On average, the vacancy rate at the jail is about 10 percent.
According to Hoskins, most standards recommend that county jails
maintain an 18 to 20 percent vacancy rate, which makes it easier to
move inmates around.

Hoskins said that inmates often have conflicting personalities and
that without extra space it can be difficult to separate two people
who cannot get along.

"When you're maxed out on your cells, it's harder to manage people,"
Hoskins said.

Many inmates await trial Fewer than one in five Boone County inmates
are serving a sentence. The majority is in jail awaiting trial.
Hoskins estimated 35 to 40 percent of those arrested are unable to
post bond and must be held at the jail.

Hoskins said the most common reasons for incarceration in Boone County
are minor offenses such as driving offenses and stealing or theft.
Many inmates are arrested and jailed for failing to appear in court.

"We spend a lot of resources because people can't keep an
appointment," Brewer said.

Hoskins said defendants usually receive an initial court date within
10 days of being charged. If a defendant misses one of several court
dates, a judge may issue a warrant for the defendant's arrest. Many
arrests for failing to appear occur when an officer is already
investigating another crime, leaving an offender to face multiple sets
of charges when a bond is set.

Many of those defendants are unable to pay their bonds, Hoskins
said.

"I've seen failure to appear bonds (set) anywhere between $10 and
$10,000," Hoskins said.

County looking for efficiency Elkin said the county is just now
beginning to look at ways to streamline the system to make it more
efficient.

"We're at the data-gathering stage," Elkin said. "We do a great job
now, but can we be better? Absolutely."

According to Brewer, the judicial system is "bending over backward" to
control the jail's population while continuing to hold offenders
accountable for their crimes. Since 1997, the county has implemented a
variety of alternative sentencing programs to help address the
overcrowding at the jail. The programs are designed to help relieve
the jail population while still attempting to respond to crime.

"You can't say, 'OK, prisoners, only five of you can commit a crime
and get arrested today,' " Elkin said.

The Community Shock Program takes individuals out of the jail system
and places them in a 90-day rehabilitation program. Offenders stay at
the Reality House, where their movements are monitored. The first 30
days of the program focus on counseling sessions. Offenders are then
allowed to work up to 35 hours a week, provided they also attend 10
hours of counseling.

The county's home detention program allows inmates to serve time in
their homes. This program is most often associated with the electronic
monitoring devices offenders wear on their ankles. Offenders also
regularly meet with corrections officials to ensure they are meeting
the terms of their sentence. In January, 45 people were in the home
detention program.

The county has also initiated special courts for drug offenders and
the mentally ill. Instead of traditional sentencing, offenders must go
through a treatment program aimed at preventing repeat offenses.
Offenders meet weekly with the court, and relapses may result in jail
time. Fewer than five percent of those sentenced in drug and mental
health court go on to become repeat offenders, said Boone County
Circuit Court Judge Christine Carpenter.

Searching for alternatives Last year, voters approved Proposition L, a
one-eighth-cent sales tax to support county law enforcement, including
funding alternate sentencing programs. The tax did not include
budgeting for jail expansions.

"The people spoke clearly," Brewer said. "They wanted alternatives to
incarceration with some of these lower-level problems."

According to a 2001 Boone County report, a new jail will probably be
needed by 2008. Studies showed that by 2018 the average Boone County
Jail population would be around 334.

Elkin said a new jail would cost at least $7.3 million, not including
personnel and operating costs. Elkin said that the county is looking
to use every other possible solution, including housing inmates in
other county jails, but that eventually a new facility will be needed.

"Ultimately, as we continue to grow," he said, "we are going to need
to expand the jail."