‘Scary spot to be.’ Targeting overcrowding, Ada County earmarks money for jail addition
Ada County is earmarking $500,000 for the construction of an addition to its jail.
That money isn’t for the total cost of the expansion or even the basis for a new funding model, Ada County Commissioner Ryan Davidson said, but it allows for the project to move forward.
An expansion is long-needed. The county is required by state law to keep a jail, and as Ada County’s population has skyrocketed, the jail hasn’t kept up, Sheriff Stephen Bartlett told commissioners on Tuesday.
The jail, located at 7210 Barrister Drive in Boise, has added “anywhere from 40 to 50 inmates per year to our average jail population,” Bartlett said. Population numbers dropped during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they’re on the rise again.
“Each and every day we’re above our population for our safe operating numbers,” Bartlett said. “We stand, as the sheriff’s offices, and myself as your sheriff, in support of the creation of this construction fund, as the need is dire for us to maintain public safety here in Ada County.”
Part of the problem has been that the Idaho Department of Correction was housing inmates in the county jail at county expense, Bartlett said, but the state has begun to remedy that. That has helped to clear up some space to keep the jail population at a safer number.
Bartlett said the majority of the inmates are those who need to be there, but he said his office is working with other public officials to make sure people who don’t need to be in the jail, aren’t. That includes alternative and pretrial sentencing options.
It also includes looking at ways to make sure that cash bail — a practice activists across the country are working to stop, arguing that it especially burdens the poor regardless of a person’s guilt — doesn’t keep people in jail who do not need to be there. Bartlett said he’s working with outside groups and local officials to help figure out what options exist without threatening public safety.
But the need for new bed space still exists. Bartlett said the county is beginning to reach a point where officials are going to need to release people from custody if they are unable to add additional space.
“That’s a really scary spot to be in as your sheriff,” he said. “We are not judges, and we are not prosecutors. I don’t want to be in the business of deciding who gets a jail bed and who doesn’t.”
The jail, which was built in 1977, also needs to be able to accommodate the needs of prisoners with different security needs, mental health needs and more, Bartlett said. They also need more room for laundry and kitchen facilities.
“Our jail was not built for the needs of our society today,” he told commissioners.
Financing for the complete construction of new space is not yet settled. A previous funding plan, which involved using “certificates of participation” that the county would pay back, is on hold as a new Republican-led commission decides how to move forward.
The $500,000 approved Tuesday allows for planning to begin for when financing is in place, Davidson said. Construction costs are only expected to increase, especially as the population rises, and laying the groundwork now can help save the county money in the future, officials said.
The Ada County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the construction fund.
This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
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