Jail filled to over-capacity, sheriff says

Former California governor Jerry Brown once theorized that "the volume of paperwork expands to fill the available briefcases."

The Lake County variation of that theory may be that the volume of prisoners expands to fill the available jail cells.

And, apparently, then some.

Sheriff Mark Curran said Tuesday he is facing a crisis of overcrowding in the jail, in spite of the millions of dollars in additions and renovations since the structure was built in 1987. At issue is the safety of corrections officers and inmates -- and Curran's budget.

"The bottom line is that we have too many people in a jail that was not built to accommodate them," Curran said. "The need for relief is both desperate and definite, and we need to begin moving forward."

While there is no disagreement among county officials that more jail space is needed, finding the $80 million to $100 million to solve the problem is another matter, they say.

And, until the money is found, a short-term fix is needed.

A county with a population well over 700,000 is sending more people than can be accommodated in a jail with a maximum capacity of 730. Sheriff's officials said for the past several weeks, the jail, at 1 N. Martin Luther King Drive in Waukegan, has housed 760 to 770 people.

About 90 percent to 93 percent of them are awaiting trial.

Deputy Jail Director Pat Firman said Tuesday the corrections department has been forced to institute mandatory overtime for jail officers to keep prisoners monitored.

"We have had between 30 and 40 people over capacity every day in the last month and a half," Firman said. "We have people in holding cells built for temporary occupation for days because we have no place to put them."

The result has been that 90 percent of the budget for overtime has been spent for this year already. In addition, inmate-on-inmate attacks have grown from one in August of last year to 10 in August of this year. And corrections officers are cashing in their sick time at an unprecedented rate, officials said.

There also is a concern for the safety of officers, who are working longer shifts and may be less alert to the potential for danger they are facing.

"We have dedicated professional officers who care deeply about what they do," Jail Director Jennifer Witherspoon said. "But they are stressed out; they can't convince themselves they can keep the inmates and themselves safe under the conditions they have to work, so they are cashing in their sick time."

State's Attorney Michael Waller, County Board Chairman Suzi Schmidt and Chief Judge Christopher Starck all said a committee formed by the Lake County Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee is looking at the increase in pre-trial detention and what can be done about it.

"Right now, we don't know," Schmidt said. "We do not have an idea about why so many people are in jail, but we are trying to find out and come up with a solution."

Starck said the committee is looking at ways to move cases through the justice system faster -- including the possibility of a special courtroom dedicated to resolving cases in a speedier fashion -- and increasing use of pre-trial supervision through electronic monitoring and other methods that do not require a person to be in jail.

"There is no doubt that we need more jail space, but we have to come up with an answer for the problem we have right now," Waller said. "We have to come up with a way to move the cases against these people forward faster."