Clay County considers new jail, law enforcement center - KELOLAND.com
VERMILLION, S.D. (KCAU) — Due to being an outdated facility, Clay County is considering a long overdue jail project.
Clay County Sheriff Andy Howe said the current jail is so outdated that it no longer houses inmates long-term due to the facility’s conditions.
“Now we run our jail as a holdover site, taking inmates in for short-term holds or work release purposes and house the rest of our inmates in other counties and the cost of that is roughly 30,000 dollars per month,” Howe said.
Most of the inmates get transported to Union County.
Howe said jails have changed a lot over the years and the county’s current facility struggles to accommodate new practices.
“When this jail was built, you didn’t consider medical needs and various other functions a jail serves now like the 24/7 sobriety program, electronic monitoring and a lot of other programs that weren’t anticipated in 1912,” said Howe.
The law enforcement center is 30 years old. Howe said they need a new facility because the current center is too small. Everything from working with crime victims to inspecting evidence is done in tight spaces.
“We need to keep advancing. it’s time for us to actually have a better law enforcement center and a better jail that we can do that. It’s our future,” said Steven Waller.
Clay County commissioners decided to issue more than $39 million in general obligation bonds to pay for the construction of these new facilities.
Steven Waller, the chair of the law enforcement and jail facility committee said while the price is steep, the new facilities are necessary as Vermillion keeps growing.
“We are asking the community to do a lot in this bond issue and I know we are already paying some to the house but we really need this for the future. It’s not an issue of a building, it’s not an issue of dollars and cents. It’s an issue of our future,” Waller said.
source: https://www.keloland.com/news/local-news/clay-county-considers-new-jail-law-enforcement-center/
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