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Consultant: County jail capacity needs to triple in 20 years

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A hired consultant issued a report on the Greene County jail projecting the facility will need to triple its bed count in 20 years.

Bill Garnos, who has been involved with jail planning projects in over 100 cities and counties in 27 states, reviewed the overcrowded Greene County jail, which currently has 661 beds, said county spokeswoman Trysta Herzog. On an average day, the jail exceeds its capacity by more than 100 people, she added.

Anticipating county population growth of 21 percent over the next two decades and no anticipated changes in the local justice system’s efficiency, the report found jail capacity would need to grow to:
    •    1,155 beds by 2022;
    •    1,430 beds by 2027;
    •    1,714 beds by 2032; and
    •    2,008 beds by 2037.

Among his recommendations, Garnos suggested Greene County expand the current jail, build a new one or house inmates elsewhere.

“Greene County is currently in the process of making some important, multimillion-dollar facility planning decisions,” Garnos wrote in the report. “The goal of this study was to establish some reasonable jail capacity estimates for facility planning purposes.”

The release of the report followed an agreement late last month between the city of Springfield and Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott for the jail to again accept municipal prisoners. The sheriff stopped taking them in on April 1, 2015, due to swelling capacity. The agreement settled lawsuits filed by the city and the sheriff, according to a news release.

The agreement’s terms include plans for the city to provide $2 million toward expanding the jail over a 10-year period, pending voter approval of using a portion of the city’s level property tax for that purpose and a new county sales tax.

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