COUNTY GETS $1.5 MILLION GRANT FOR JAIL EXPANSION

JACKSON -- Cape Girardeau County Sheriff John Jordan said aiming high and being persistent landed the county a record award of $1.5 million from the U.S. Marshal's Service to help expand the overcrowded county jail.

Jordan announced the grant at a press conference Monday morning.

"In April the county commissioners and I submitted an application for $1.8 million to help with the expansion of the jail," he said. "The commissioners and I were aware that most CAP (Cooperative Agreement Program) funds are from $400,000 to $500,000, but we thought if we're going to be a bear we might as well be a grizzly."

The money is in reserve in Washington where it will stay until construction begins on the jail expansion. Jordan said Associate Commissioner Joe Gambill, who oversees county buildings and grounds, will spearhead the feasibility studies, research and bid selection when the time comes.

"Probably within a year and a half we will know what we have to do here in Cape Girardeau County to take the $1.5 million and what we will have to add to it to do the project," he said. "I don't think you can have the expansion project that we're wanting to do for $1.5 million. What we're planning is to use that $1.5 million and add, however much to it, within reason, to expand for the Marshal Service and our needs at the same time."

Jordan and the county commission entered into an inter-governmental agreement last month with the Marshal's Service to house federal detainees awaiting trial. The county will collect $38.34 per federal inmate per day for this service.

"The IGA was one part of the phase to work towards getting a CAP agreement," Jordan said, adding that the Marshal's Service does not have a facility in which to keep prisoners awaiting trial.

The Marshal's Service has had to transport prisoners between Ste. Genevieve County, where it had an IGA established with the sheriff there, and the federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau. This meant hours of wasted time for the marshal's deputies.

"They were encouraging us to work together on the project," Jordan said. "If there was a way that we were able to expand the Cape Girardeau County Jail we could use cooperative agreement funds from the Marshal's Service, then we would be able to house federal detainees here for them. That would relieve the burden on them, on the travel time, the safety issues, and the prisoners would be able to be transported back and forth to the federal building with much less expense for them."

The IGA has already paid off for the county.

"In August after we completed our IGA agreement, we housed five federal prisoners," Jordan said. "Those five prisoners offset the cost of 75 prisoners' room and board."

When the new jail is completed under the IGA, the county will house up 35 federal prisoners a day, or 80 percent of the maximum allowed under the IGA. It will mean a return of $474,500 a year. If the IGA agreement changes to $45 a day per prisoner, which Jordan expects might happen, the county could benefit by more than $800,000 a year.

"Personnel costs will go up because we'll have to increase our staff," he said. "And the food cost will go up. But the amount we'll be taking in will more than offset those expenses."

Marvin Lutes, the U.S. marshal's chief deputy for the St. Louis district, said his department relies heavily on local law enforcement agencies.

Lutes said that without the cooperation of the city of Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Cape Girardeau County "we could not perform the duties we need to do on a daily basis."

The Cape Girardeau County Jail was built in 1979 and designed to handle a maximum capacity of 64 inmates, Jordan said. From 1984 to 1994 the jail's daily average was about 55 prisoners. Beginning in 1994 the inmate population began to climb until it reached a peak of 101 inmates. Prisoners had to be housed outside the county as far away as Ste. Genevieve County for as much as $45 a day.

In 1995 the daily jail population rose to an average of 73 prisoners. Last fall Jordan installed bunk beds in the dormitory, increasing the daily capacity to 80 inmates. He said it was a temporary fix and the daily average of 96 prisoners in 1996 has already surpassed that number.

Jordan said the studies will focus on a one-time expansion that will take care of the county's needs. He's expecting the surveys to convey just what the county will need from the county residents to accomplish this.

"If we can do this without raising taxes or a bond issue we will," he said. "We've got a golden opportunity to take these government funds and run. To make them go as far as we can before we put any taxpayers' money in."

AT A GLANCE

Cape Girardeau County received a $1.5 million federal grant through the U.S. Marshal's Service to help expand the county jail. More room will allow the county to house federal detainees, which will help offset increased operational and personnel costs.