Kane may move work release inmates to DuPage County
Kane County's work release inmates could end up serving time at a facility in neighboring DuPage County as part of a plan to save both counties money by pooling their resources.
Officials say there's been “very preliminary” talk of moving Kane's work release inmates to the DuPage County Juvenile Detention Center in Wheaton.
The idea is an outgrowth of ongoing discussions officials are having about the possibility of closing the DuPage youth home and shipping its juvenile detainees to Kane.
Late last year, the youth home's 64-bed tower was turned over to the DuPage sheriff's work release program during a downsizing of the facility.
If DuPage closes its youth home entirely, it would save the county about $400,000 a year and free up 32 additional beds in the building.
“Potentially, we could have more space that could be used for something like housing their (Kane County's) work release folks,” county board member Robert Larsen said, “which would be a potential cost savings for them and a revenue source for us.”
If the proposal becomes a reality, Kane would pay DuPage a fee for each work release inmate it houses. Additional details about the plan are expected to be released during a news conference Wednesday morning in St. Charles.
On Tuesday, Kane County Sheriff Pat Perez said he first spoke with Chief Judge F. Keith Brown two weeks ago about the idea of moving work release inmates.
Kane has two versions of its work release program. In one, inmates go to work during the day and come back to the jail at a designated time in the evening. Currently, Kane has two or three inmates in that version of the program, Perez said.
Ten to 15 inmates are in the second version of the program. In it, inmates are free during the week and spend the weekend in jail.
The idea of transferring work release inmates to DuPage comes at a time when jail space is at a premium in Kane. In recent years, the jail exceeded its capacity and officials had to send inmates to other counties at great expense. Now officials are trying to keep the jail population low.
Kane currently houses work release inmates in low-risk population areas. Those include the classification unit, where jail employees determine if a new inmate will get along with the other inmates, and the booking area.
As long as DuPage has the space to take on additional work release inmates, Larsen said he believes both counties could save money by working together.
While the proposed partnership isn't his idea, DuPage Sheriff John Zaruba said he would be “very happy” to listen to the details of the proposal.
“If it works for us and works for everybody,” Zaruba said Tuesday, “I'm not against it.”