photo by Theodore Wiesehan: The Seward County Jail's recreation area, described by Jail Consultant Dan Williamson as "a cage with razor ribbon," was just one area of the current jail posing a threat to the safety of the jail staff, inmates, visitors and general public in Williamson's report on the county's facility needs.

by Theodore Wiesehan

    The Seward County Jail Committee voted unanimously at its Nov. 9 meeting to recommend construction of a $12 million law enforcement facility housing the county jail, sheriff's department, communication center, district and county courts and county attorney's office, as well as the diversion, probation and court-appointed special advocates (CASA) programs.
     The committee and Dan Williamson of Williamson Consulting, Omaha, were to present the recommendation to the Seward County Commissioners at their Nov. 21 meeting.
     Williamson shared the results of his Seward County Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study with the jail committee. He found that not only is the current jail facility unsafe, but its continued operation will cause the sheriff's department budget to skyrocket over the next 20 years as increasing numbers of prisoners must be transported to and boarded at other county's jails.
     Williamson found that operation of the current jail would raise the county's annual jail expenses from approximately $545,916 to a minimum of $2,248,098 by 2026.
     "I kept this very, very conservative," Williamson said of his cost projection. "This is a very basic bottom line number that you're going to spend in the future. Do I think it's going to be higher? Absolutely."
     Even though Williamson did not adjust his projected prisoner boarding or transportation costs for inflation, he estimated that those two costs would make up over 56 percent of the county's jail expenditures by 2026.
     Williamson presented two facility proposals to the committee: a $9,515,120-facility containing a 100-bed jail, sheriff's office and communications center; and the $12,015,146 facility which the committee voted to recommend.
     If the county issued a 20-year bond to pay for the $12-million facility, it would spend $37,543,666 on the jail budget and bond payments over the next 20 years, Williamson said. That figure includes revenue the county could earn by housing prisoners for other counties.
     Again, Williamson said he kept revenue figures for prisoner boarding conservative and did not adjust for inflation.
     "Can you generate more? Absolutely," he said. "The demand's there. And it's going to continue to be there. How much more revenue? Over a 20-year period $4 or $5 million more. But I kept this very conservative."
     The minimum cost of keeping the current jail over the next 20 years would be $27,359,257, not adjusted for inflation.
     Williamson hoped to have updated figures adjusted for inflation available at the Nov. 21 presentation to commissioners.
     Throughout his report Williamson warned of the dangerous state of the current jail. Built in 1978 to house 14 prisoners, the jail now houses 26 inmates and represents a danger to staff, visitors, inmates and the general public, Williamson said.
     The jail's design does not allow for clear lines of sight and hampers the staff's ability to monitor prisoner behavior.
     "This design lends itself to vandalism, assault on staff and inmates, potential inmate suicide, inmate possession of contraband and inmate escape," Williamson said in the report.
     He also cited a lack of inmate classification areas, insufficient security perimeter, noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, dangerous visitation area and an outdoor recreation area that "could be described as a cage with razor ribbon."
     "You've got a dangerous jail, and it's not because of the way you operate it. It's the design. It's the age," Williamson said. "That jail's going to come back to bite you pretty soon."
     After studying county and inmate population trends, Williamson recommended a 100-bed jail facility to fulfill the county's incarceration needs for the next 20 years.
     By combining the jail facility with courts and other facets of the county's criminal justice system, the county could eliminate the cost of prisoner transport and free up much-needed space in the crowded Seward County Courthouse.
     "Most places right now when they're looking at criminal justice centers they're trying to put all the criminal justice components together," Williamson told the committee. "You could put this entire complex on a city block."
     Richard Bohaty, Seward, moved that the committee recommend the county build the larger facility. Ron Vosta, Milford, provided a second. The motion was approved 6-0 with Bohaty, Vosta, Larry Bonner of Milford, E-911 Coordinator Barb Liska, Sheriff Joe Yocum and Jail Administrator Terry Kampreth voting.
     Even if the commissioners decide to move forward with the criminal justice center proposal, the facility would still face a special election for a county bond issue.
     "I don't think there's any way you can fund this without a bond issue," Williamson said. "If we started right now today and everything went absolutely smoothly, to turn dirt you're looking maybe six months down the road."
     He hopes to meet with Mary Koci, Scott Stuhr and Darrel Miller over the next few weeks to fill the commissioners-elect in on his findings before they take office.
     Williamson estimated the facility would take 12 to 16 months to complete once construction begins.