Although overcrowding is not one of the reasons cited for the proposed new Carroll County jail, the number of prisoners housed within has been increasing over the last several years. Occupancy reports completed in January in each of the past six years reveal a more than 300 percent rise in the number of men and women incarcerated during that focused time period. The average daily population reported in January of 2013 was 3.61, as compared to an average of 11.26 per day in 2017. In January of this year, that number dropped slightly, to 225 percent over 2013, with an average of 8.1 prisoners per day. These numbers, however, are fluid, ebbing and flowing on a daily basis. Though it is referred to as the Carroll County jail, the building is actually used by all area law enforcement agencies, from the City of Carroll, to those in surrounding communities and the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office. A breakdown of those numbers reveals that the vast majority of individuals booked into the jail are brought in by the Carroll Police Department. From Jan. 1, 2013 through Sept. 12, 2018, the police department has recorded 1,620 arrests. The second highest number is attributed to the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, but an estimated nearly one third of those 843 prisoners have already been booked into the system one time already, and are simply coming in to serve out their court-ordered sentences. These prisoners could have been arrests attributed to the Sheriff’s Office, any of the local police departments, the Iowa State Patrol or the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT). As Carroll County continues to work towards informing the residents of the need for a new facility, one that will meet the needs of today as well as 50 years into the future, leaders and consultants studied these statistics and trends to aid in plan development. That plan has introduced the proposal to increase from the state-mandated capacity of 14 individuals, to one that has room for 32, but could easily be expanded to 52 beds. On Feb. 2 of this year, the Iowa Department of Corrections ordered the Warren County jail in Indianola to close after inspections revealed failure to comply with even the minimum levels of health, safety, security and sanitary conditions. Previous bond referendums for construction of a new $35 million jail failed, also prompting the closure. Just this past Aug. 8, a $30 million referendum did pass with 69.6 percent of the vote. In the interim, an agreement was reached between the county and the other agencies and initial transportation charges became the direct responsibility of the arresting parties. Although no one can predict what the Department of Corrections may do in the future, the Carroll County jail meets zero of the states’ standards, and they are currently operating solely on the discretion of the state jail inspector. Carroll County authorities have stated that in the event they are forced to enter into agreements with other counties who can handle the current prisoner averages, such as Story, Polk, Pottawattamie or Woodbury Counties, the initial transportation costs could also become an additional expense for each separate law enforcement division. The proposal for a new 16,800 square foot, $8.95 million jail adjacent to the Carroll County Courthouse, will bring the county back into compliance with all state regulations and is set to be decided by the voters with its inclusion on the Nov. 6 mid-term general election ballot. Other prisoners housed in the Carroll County jail during the aforementioned time period include 113 from the Manning Police Department, 92 from the Coon Rapids Police Department, 79 from the Iowa State Patrol and five from the DOT.
