County Jail Updates

Here's a few news items involving the Champaign County Jail this past month:

First a quick reminder that applications for the Sheriff's scholarship are due next week: more info here.
 
The new County Board and Sheriff along with jail staff toured the jail facilities. From the News-Gazette earlier in February:

Champaign County Board facilities committee gets firsthand look at jails
Champaign County's new sheriff and new county board leadership have begun the process of addressing the needs of an aging jail built in 1980 and a second jail, built in 1996, that is bursting at the seams to meet modern needs...

The visit was billed as the first step in helping the county respond to ongoing needs at the two facilities.

Off and on, the possible closure of the older downtown site and the renovation and expansion of the other site have been discussed...

Jail staff first led the board members on a tour of the satellite site, including booking, the holding area, video court, visitation room, the B-Pod, the A-Pod, kitchen, laundry, medical unit, mental health office and control room.

Then the committee toured the downtown site's visitation area, living units, classroom, library and indoor recreation area.

Jail staff said the rise of gun violence, gangs and people with mental health issues have created modern challenges perhaps not anticipated when the satellite facility was built.

"By statute, we are in charge of providing a safe, healthy and clean facility for all the people who come here," Heuerman said. "It is difficult to expand our offerings given the time and space restraints that we have." 

Full article here. The County Sheriff, State's Attorney, and Public Health Administrator were among those on a panel discussing the likely legalization of marijuana in the future. More details on that event here: 'Let's face it: This is probably going to happen.' A relevant excerpt:

Of the 198 people in the county jail, [State's Attorney Julia Rietz] said that only five of them are there on cannabis charges, and all five of them face additional charges, such as gun possession or aggravated domestic battery.

 A couple worrisome news items popped up this past week involving a case of tuberculosis and malfunctioning doors. First from the News-Gazette:

Champaign County Jail inmate tests positive for tuberculosis
An inmate at the Champaign County Jail has tested positive for tuberculosis, according to the sheriff's office.

The inmate is hospitalized and the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District already has an investigation under way, according to health district Administrator Julie Pryde...

The sheriff's office said jail staff have been working to identify those who were in contact with the inmate and with the public health district to administer TB tests to anyone who may have been in contact.

People at greatest risk for catching TB from someone with the disease are those who have been in close contact, such as a cellmate, Pryde said.

and from WCIA (video segment at link):

Malfunctioning doors latest issue at jail
Problems at the downtown jail have been going on for several years. The building was built in the early 80s and county officials say it's in very bad shape.

"The older jail, which is the downtown jail, has pretty much outlived its life span."

Now, another issue has sprouted up. The decades-old jail's door panels are malfunctioning, unlocking and sometimes opening different, unintended doors at random times.

The sheriff says they're expecting it to be fixed next week. The doors malfunctioning are just the latest problem they're having to try to slap a Band-Aid on...

Discussions over what to do with the downtown jail have been going on for years. They're not at capacity right now, but the state of the jail wouldn't allow for the needs of more inmates to be filled.

Full article with video segment here. WCIA had an additional article and video segment on the County's plan to start dealing with long neglected facility maintenance here. I've added it to links in an earlier post with News-Gazette coverage and Facilities Committee meeting links:

March County Facilities Meeting: News-Gazette coverage of Youth Detention Center's potential new roof. This is one of many facility maintenance issues the county has been delaying due to budget crunches.

For more resources and posts on the jail, check our Jail Issues page setup prior to last year's County election.