Lake County authorizes $1.68 million contract for temporary housing of jail inmates
Employee shortage presents continuing issue for Lake County jail
Temporary housing for Lake County jail inmates at the McHenry County correctional facility has been funded through April and will continue for the foreseeable future.
The Lake County Board on Tuesday authorized a line item transfer of $1.68 million within the sheriff’s budget to pay for the arrangement through April.
The transfer represents the reduction in costs the Lake County Sheriff’s Office will have from four sources with overtime accounting for about $1.53 million. Savings in inmate meals, jail medical costs, clothing, mattresses and the like make up the rest.
McHenry County will accept up to 150 male prisoners daily at $100 per day covering the cost for housing, transporting and providing clothing and medical care for prisoners.
Inmates are transferred primarily depending on the length of time to their court appearance. As of Tuesday, Lake County had 511 inmates in its custody, with 150 of them housed in the McHenry County jail, according to Lake County sheriff's Deputy Chief Chris Covelli.
Lake County pursued the arrangement because it is experiencing a shortage of corrections officers.
“It’s an issue across the country,” said Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart. “Lake County is not alone in our concerns about having difficulty hiring people.”
That issue surfaced in county board committee discussions in recent weeks in advance of the full board vote Tuesday.
Since 2018, Lake County has hired 86 corrections officers and lost 166, according to Jim Chamernik, business manager for the sheriff’s office.
“This is for the safety and security both for the inmates and the staff,” he said of the temporary housing in McHenry County.
About 20 new officers would be needed to bring inmates back from McHenry County but that would increase to about 30 if the work-release program reopens, according to Richard Clouse, chief of corrections.
He said the sheriff's office is in a “continual hiring process” but can’t compete with the pay offered by other agencies. A Wisconsin agency, for example, pays $41 per hour compared with $30.69 an hour in Lake County, he said.
“That seems to be one of our major stumbling blocks,” according to Clouse.
Pay is a factor particularly since most people entering corrections aren’t doing it for their entire careers, he added.
The sheriff’s office has reached out to the new correctional officer union to request dates for bargaining, Covelli said.
Additional line-item transfers will be submitted quarterly for review.