Jail study goes public
By Debbie Lowe

PMSI, Inc. representative Lester "Spike" Shepler provided the formal draft of a proposed Jail Facility Master Plan developed by his firm. The work was done over the past several months in meetings and research conducted by PMSI. Questions addressed in the plan include:

• The need for a new jail and why;

• What needs to be done with the existing facility until a new facility is built;

• How large to build a new facility and what should be included in it;

• How to utilize the old facility when a new one is built and at what cost; and

• How to raise the funds needed for whatever project is selected.

The executive summary reads in part:

"The existing building systems are reaching the end of the their expected life cycle requiring the refurbishment of many of its systems and building conditions and the rated bed capacity of the facility is currently exceeded most of the time and will not meet the future housing needs for those being detained."

"The existing facility does not provide adequate space for departmental operations such as administration areas, inmate housing, support services, programming space, dispatch, public areas and storage and the county needs to put into place the plan for the longterm solution now, and the county needs to plan for and put into place the funding mechanisms necessary to pay for the short-term and long-term solutions required to meet the needs of the jail." it concluded.

General recommendations from PMSI were:

• Creation of a monthly jail report to more clearly identify the local detention status;

• Distribution of jail reports to all criminal justice system players, commissioners and council members on a weekly basis; and

• Establishment of an offender population-management committee by county leaders.

Additional information and specific recommendations are contained in the document that can be viewed at the Comet office in Delphi and in the auditor's office on the second floor of the courthouse.

A public meeting to explain and discuss the study will be held Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Canal Interpretive Center. County residents are encouraged to attend.