This will not be a mere $1 million oversight added to your property taxes. This is the largest building project in the county's history. The proposed jail and related facilities would cost taxpayers $59.1 million - the usual cost over runs could almost double its tax burden. The total cost to tax payers, just to service that debt, will be $92 million. This figure does not include the extra costs of furnishings for the building project, extra staffing, maintenance, etc. When you hear ‘JAIL' hang on to your wallet.
Should a jail be on prime riverfront property?
There were various plans put forward, but it seems they were not all given equal consideration. The County wants to put a jail in Downtown Eau Claire. Many expect the City Council to roll over and let the county have its way, even though it seems to violate our strategic plan for downtown. The first phase of the ever expanding jail would demolish homes and businesses downtown. The jail would be the highlight of the river as seen from Phoenix Park. It's time to admit that the current jail has outgrown the area and jail expansion cannot continue to gobble up homes and businesses along prime riverfront property.
Governor Doyle said "Wisconsin's rivers, lakes and streams are among our greatest assets. Revitalizing our waterfronts helps build strong local economies by attracting new business, raising land values and drawing locals and tourists to a community.” What kinds of tourists come to visit jails? The Eau Claire City's award-winning comprehensive plan identifies the Chippewa and Eau Claire Rivers as our greatest natural attributes.
But hasn't the county studied all this?
The county has been working on this for more than 5 years. Recently, the County Board asked the US Department of Justice's National Institute of Corrections (NIC) for help in assessing our correctional system. The basic conclusion of the report was that “How the jail space is being used is not well understood” and “The nature of the problem needs to be better understood” But the County Board went ahead and allocated the first $25 million before reading the NIC report . The County Board has only been given the summary of the report which has been available since the end of February.
But don't we need a new Jail?
While the NIC report acknowledged that the jail is “aging, poorly designed, outmoded” it also states that “the new jail will not solve many of the current problems of the system”, and “In fact, a new jail, by itself, may not change very much. New bed space may be filled quickly.” The report concludes, “The nature of the problem needs to be better understood.” The report offers tools the County needs to gain that understanding – but we need to use those tools, and not blindly rush ahead. “… the leadership has not had the information they need to understand and evaluate the justice system. Much better analyses are needed to support the policy-oriented planning process (NIC report, page 27).”
Isn't this a done deal?
It could be - if taxpayers and voters do not speak up for themselves. The US Department of Justice report raises serious questions that need addressing before bulldozing ahead. The city will still need to approve the rezoning of the riverfront property. As tax payers and citizens you need to question your elected officials.
What are the trends?
According to the report, "Eau Claire is safe and its people are pretty well behaved (page 18)." The Eau Claire crime rate is dropping, but the Eau Claire County jail population is increasing. State arrest rates are down, but Eau Claire's are up. The crime rate is expected to continue to decrease for more than 20 years.
· "The jail is used to house a wide range of inmate types. It is attempting to do too much. Almost anyone can be admitted. A very wide variety of federal, immigration, out of state, state, and local inmates reside there. It is a mixture of three distinct groups: "people we are afraid of, people we are upset with and people we do not know what to do with” (p. 19).
· "Between 2002 and 2006, the Number of Index Crimes Reported to law enforcement in Eau Claire County decreased -14%. . . . . When these numbers are adjusted to account for increases in the countywide population during this period, the decreases are even larger (p. 11). ”
· "Adult arrests in Eau Claire County increased by 24% during this period. This is in sharp contrast to the declining Index crime rates in the County, and in contrast to the statewide adult arrest trends” (p. 12).
· "The Eau Claire County crime prone age group (age 15-24) can be expected to peak in 2010, then decline substantially by the year 2020. This age cohort is expected to grow at about one half the rate of the general county population through 2030 (p. 12). “
· “It appears that a larger number of people have been placed under correctional supervision, under more stringent behavioral requirements, and for longer periods of time.” (p. 12).
· "More clearly defining the purpose of the jail is a first step in managing the flow into the jail and the length of stay. This will help define the number and composition of the jail population. Until and unless this is done, the jail will remain crowded (p. 19)."
· " [Eau Claire's] predominant view, [its] predominant strategy for coping with the growing workload has been to seek additional resources, add jail beds, and add program capacity. This represents a near singular strategy aimed at trying to outrun growth by adding capacity. But the system is up against substantial resource limits and the strategy is coming under increased scrutiny . . . (p. 20)."
· "A first conceptual trap has been the view that jail crowding is "the problem." A related notion is the view that jail crowding is "the Sheriff's problem". It turns out that jail crowding really just a symptom. It is a symptom of problems within the larger justice system. Success requires a system-wide approach. One must literally go outside the perceived "problem" in order to solve it (p. 20/21)."
· "Some of the people who were interviewed seem to believe that a new jail will "solve the problem". In fact, a new jail, by itself, may not change very much. New bed space may be filled quickly. It is also possible that the new emerging programs will expand the total number of people under correctional supervision, also fill to capacity, and have very little impact on the number of people in jail (page 24)."
· "Recommendations include increased public participation and better analysis of existing data to provide information on the jail population, its characteristics and needs, put into a proper form, analyzed and routinely reported out. . . . Understanding these population dynamics is essential to understanding why the number of people in jail is increasing [or falling] (p. 29)."
· "The basic message: These trends do not support the view that the general County population has become more criminogenic. Instead, the increase in the demand for criminal justice services appears to stem from changes in the response of the criminal justice system. In conjunction with the other analyses that have been prepared, it appears that a larger number of people have been placed under correctional supervision, under more stringent behavioral requirements, and for longer periods of time (p. 12/13)."
· "Utilization of the Jail bed space resource is not well understood by justice system officials, general officials of county and city governments, or the public. The jail data was not organized to permit analysis. It was difficult to determine how the jail space is being used. The classification system is a mystery. Bookings and length of stay of the various inmate types are not being analyzed (page 19)."
To read the full report, see http://tyronecoal.com/NIC2008.pdf & http://tyronecoal.com/NICAppendix2008.pdf