III. Johnson County Jail

This section describes the County's current jail facility, its limited capacity, and some of the building's design problems.

A. Description and Capacity

The Johnson County Sheriff's Department and Jail was opened in 1981. The Sheriff's Department and Civil Defense is located on the first floor, and the jail is located on the second floor.

The jail was designed with a total of 46 cells, each of which has had a second bunk added, providing a total of 92 jail beds. The cells are divided into nine separate housing areas (or "blocks"). The cells are arranged in a linear fashion along the exterior walls. Each cellblock has its own small dayroom.

Inmate housing in the existing facility is shown in the following table.

 

Current Inmate Housing

Housing

Block

Cells

Beds

Security

Level

Current

Usage

A

8

16

Maximum

Pretrial Males

B

4

8

Maximum

Pretrial Males

C

4

8

Maximum

Pretrial Males

D

8

16

Medium

Sentenced/Pretrial Males

E

2

4

Medium

Females/Males

F

4

8

Medium

Females

G

4

8

Medium

Medical/Mental Health

H

4

8

Medium

Overnighters

I

8 *

16 *

Minimum

Work Release/Trusties

Total

46

92

    

* Dry cells.

The cells measure approximately 75 square feet (7 feet 6 inches wide x 10 feet 9 inches deep, minus the plumbing chase for the combination toilet and sink).

All other jail functions and support services are accommodated in the center area of the jail, between the cellblocks on the exterior walls. This area includes a small booking area, inmate property storage, three temporary holding cells, a control station, visitation, an exercise area, library, kitchen, laundry, conference room, and office space.

Floor plans for the current Sheriff's Department (on the first floor) and the Jail (on the second floor) are shown on pages 23 and 24.

B. Problems

There are four major problems with the design of the County's existing jail facility, all of which are made worse by the current crowded conditions. These problems include:

l Insufficient inmate housing;

l Inadequate space for intake and release;

l Inadequate space for inmate programs, activities, and support services; and

l Lack of visibility into the inmate housing areas.

The facility was designed with only 46 cells. Even with every cell double-bunked (i.e., 92 beds), the County's inmate population has exceeded the facility's capacity for the past year, and the population continues to grow. (From January through October of 1999, the facility had an average daily population of 94.1 inmates, and has held as many as 127 inmates.)

The crowded conditions caused by the lack of inmate housing causes a number of serious operational problems. One major problem is the inability to separate and segregate different types of inmates. Inmates should be classified and housed according to their risk level and security requirements. Single cells should be used for certain types of inmates, including those requiring maximum security and those who need to be segregated for disciplinary or administrative purposes. But because of the crowded conditions at the Johnson County Jail, single cells are essentially not available, which means that these inmates must be mixed with other general population inmates.

Iowa jail standards do not specify the amount of single cells that a facility should provide. However, national jail standards and those of surrounding states clearly require that single cells are available and utilized for certain types of inmates.

National jail standards by the American Correctional Association (ACA) require that, at a minimum, new jails should be "designed to provide single-occupancy cells for one-third of the population." ACA Standards also require that single occupancy cells be used for:

l Inmates with severe medical disabilities;

l Inmates suffering from serious mental illness;

l Sexual predators;

l Inmates likely to be exploited or victimized by others; and

l Inmates who have other special needs for single-occupancy housing.

Minnesota jail standards require that double occupancy cells shall not be used to house:

l Maximum security inmates;

l Inmates on disciplinary segregation status;

l Inmates on administrative segregation status;

l Inmates on medical isolation status; or

l Inmates on intake - classification status.

Minnesota jail standards also require that the percentage of cells used for double occupancy shall not exceed 50 percent of the total number of cells classified for medium security usage, and 100 percent of the cells or rooms classified for minimum security inmates.

Wisconsin jail standards require that at least 15 percent of a jail's total number of cells may not be used for double occupancy, and imposes other requirements to provide adequate staffing.

Another problem associated with inmate housing at the Johnson County Jail is the lack of sufficient dayroom space. Iowa jail standards require that new or "remodeled" jail facilities provide housing units with dayrooms that provide a minimum floor area of 30 square feet for the first inmate and 15 square feet for each additional inmate. (ACA Standards require 35 square feet of dayroom space for each occupant.)

Because of this lack of dayroom space, there is a concern that if the Johnson County Jail is involved in a "major remodeling or reconstruction," it will have to comply with the State's current jail standards, which would likely preclude the ability to continue double-bunking the existing cellblocks.

The second major problem area involves the lack of space and design of the jail's intake and release area. It needs to be kept in mind that the jail really serves two functions — (1) it processes a large number of people into and out of the facility who stay for a very short time, and (2) it provides secure confinement for a relatively small number of people, some of whom may remain at the facility for a fairly long time. When looking at jail problems, the focus is usually on the facility's overall capacity (i.e., number of beds), and not on the facility's and staff's ability to safely and efficiently process the large number of people coming into and out of the facility. (In FY 1999, for example, the facility had a total of 7,087 bookings, or an average of 19.4 bookings per day.)

Prisoners brought to the Johnson County Jail are typically either escorted in from the street (if they are cooperative), or through the vehicular sallyport (if uncooperative or combative). Inmates are then brought up an elevator to the jail's intake and release area on the second floor. The intake and release area consists of three holding cells (one of which is "padded"), a small booking room, and a small inmate property storage area. The intake and release area is grossly undersized, even for the facility's original design capacity. It should also be kept in mind that the number of bookings at the jail has more than quadrupled since the facility opened in 1981.

The space problems in the intake and release area are particularly a problem when there is a large number of people brought to the facility at one time, as can often happen on weekends.

The third major problem area involves the lack of adequate space for inmate programs, activities, and support services. The facility's visitation area, indoor exercise area, and programs area are all undersized, even for the facility's original design capacity. Both the kitchen and the laundry areas are strained by the facility's current population.

The fourth major problem area involves the lack of visibility into the inmate housing areas. Officers in the facility are generally unable to directly observe inmates in any of the cellblocks. Cameras and "vision ports" have been added, but the facility was not designed to facilitate the observation and supervision of inmates in the housing areas.

IV. Space Needs