Commissioners cram into jail for a tour: Preparing for future jail expansion the focus
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The committee’s concerns ranged from personnel to current jail conditions and overcrowding.
“How many deputies do you have?” asked commissioner Carl Hulett.
“We have 23 on the road,” Matheny said, “and that’s not counting warrants officers and investigators.”
Matheny noted the total jail staff is approximately 70 full-time employees along with several part-time workers.
One committee member asked about the number of department vehicles on patrol.
“We have six on three shifts, and five on another, and then, of course, we have two deputies that serve warrants. That’s their job, so they’re not actually answering calls,” Matheny said, while noting they might do so in emergency situations.
Commissioner Hulett asked for an estimate on how many extra employees would have to be hired once jail expansion is finished. Matheny said early estimates have the jail staff increasing by 10 employees.
“I don’t know if that’s going to be accurate after they actually get it done,” Matheny said. “We won’t really know until we get there.”
The committee also asked the sheriff about employee turnover rates.
“Our turnover is mostly in our jailers, and of course that is a hard job,” Matheny said, noting the jailers don’t carry weapons and receive minimal training. “It’s the hardest job we have, and it’s the least paying job we have.”
Matheny also mentioned insurance and benefits as one of the reasons employees moved to jobs in other communities or to other careers.
The committee then prepared to move the meeting to the jail for the planned tour, with the only restriction requested by Matheny being to avoid conversation with inmates due to the potential for generating confrontational situations both during the tour and afterward for jail personnel.
As committee members toured the various areas, they noted the facility was indeed in need of repairs and desperately in need of more space, with many of the inmates sleeping on simple mats on floors due to the lack of available beds.
They also noted the jail looked relatively well-maintained and controlled considering the problems with overcrowding and the condition of the current facility.
Matheny cited the present overcrowded conditions as the major concern, with around 220 inmates currently housed at the facility. That makes control of inmates a real challenge.
Matheny noted that limiting visitors to immediate family or legal counsel, though unpopular, was a direct result of that situation.
“It’s so packed,” he said, “we have to run a very strict jail. It has to be.”