County explores jail expansion

COEUR d'ALENE — Kootenai County has decided to take another look at expanding the jail.

Commissioners have authorized staff to seek an architect who will explore the cost and scope of an expansion to the jail's area that houses felons.

Sheriff Ben Wolfinger said he supports the move.

"I think that it is the logical first step to any addition to the jail," he said. "We have to know what can be built and at what cost. It takes architects who specialize in jail construction to be able to give us this information."

Shawn Riley, Kootenai County's building and grounds director, said he expects to have a request for qualifications for the commissioners to review in two to three weeks.

The request will solicit architect applicants for a month before a finalist will be selected.

The decision to seek an architect for answers comes on the heels of a National Institution of Corrections (NIC) report in October that reaffirmed the jail is overcrowded.

"The report did not surprise us with any new recommendations," Wolfinger said. "It said that we need more cell space and that space needs to be individual cells due to the nature of inmates that we continue to have in custody."

"My only caution to the board (of commissioners) has been to not build to a dollar amount, but build to a need. Also to not build to the need of today, but look to the future as well."

Riley said the expansion size could be anywhere from 100 to 250 "hard cells," or individual cells that are not shared by inmates. He said the expansion would likely be on the lower end of that range.

Riley's rough estimate on the expansion cost is between $10 million and $20 million, depending on the size, how many floors it is and other factors.

Commissioners have said they would likely not go to the voters to approve a measure to fund an expansion due to past failed attempts because, as of November, the county had a fund balance $15.5 million to spend on discretionary projects.

Commissioner Marc Eberlein said the jail was built with future expansion in mind and an expansion project would obviously be far less expensive than a new jail.

"If it needs cells, it needs cells, but the public is not interested in a new jail," he said.

The current jail near the fairgrounds opened in 1987 with 98 beds. Through remodels it was expanded to 127 beds. The latest addition, which opened in 2002, increased capacity to 327 beds.

The number of inmates at the jail has fluctuated from nearly 400 at one point two months ago to 287 on Wednesday.

"I know that (lower) number seems like it should give us some room, but the greatest need for space is in the higher custody levels and our (69) hard cells are full," said Maj. Kim Edmondson, the jail commander. "These are inmates who we house separately from others for their safety as well as for the safety of other inmates and staff due to their current charges and behavior as well as their past history."

As of Wednesday, there were 110 total inmates who met that "assaultive felons and special management" criteria, and 86 of them were housed at the jail.

"The other 24 are part of the 27 who we have housed at other facilities," Edmondson said. "I would also add that 247 of our inmates have felony charges of some sort, so we aren't housing a lot of people for misdemeanor crimes as often is the assumption."

Edmondson said that having space available in the dormitories where those with lower-level charges stay doesn't help when the jail needs more space to house inmates individually.

She said that, for the 327-bed jail to run smoothly, it should have a maximum of 278 inmates at any given time because open beds are needed to function properly.

"Having beds open gives us flexibility in housing inmates in spaces that will work for their classification status or incarceration needs and allows us to adjust our housing to each individual's behavior and needs when appropriate," she said.

"When our population is higher than our operational capacity, we have to start making choices that can create safety issues for staff and can make our population difficult to manage."

Edmondson said that when numbers are low, staff conducts repairs and maintenance in areas of the jail it can access.

The NIC report revealed that the jail is well-maintained, but is in need of more beds, more storage and improvements to watch inmates.

Other facilities such as in Nez Perce and Bonner counties in Idaho and Idaho and Ferry counties in Washington hold 25 to 50 inmates on any given day who have committed crimes in Kootenai County.

Jim Brannon, Kootenai County's clerk, said the county spent $477,742 during fiscal 2015 on housing inmates elsewhere and $659,416 in fiscal 2014. Those figures do not include transportation costs and personnel time to transport inmates.