5 Years in the New Jail

5 years ago we were jammed into the old City Hall jail. We were short staffed and over crowded. Beds were so short that inmates were forced to sleep on "boats" (portable bedding units) in the dayrooms of quads. Often inmates spent 12 - 16 hours in intake waiting for a bed. Our average inmate count for July of 2001 was 532.

Then the new jail opened:

Today, the new jail has been open for 5 years. We are short staffed and overcrowded. On weekends inmates are often forced to sleep on "boats" and may spend 12 hours in intake waiting for a bed, if one becomes available at all. The average count for July 2006 was 792. We've had recent inmate counts as high as 885. We only have 842 beds and as you know not all can be used due to inmate classification.

The County Board in its' wisdom opted to build a "booking facility" that added only an additional 333 beds to the already exisiting 509 beds in the City Hall jail, rather then building the 1400 bed high rise jail that was originally planned. They spent $108 million on this, about 1/5 of what they're willing to spend for a ball park.

We live in a time when the mayor of Minneapolis gets shouted down at a neighborhood press conference, and leaves, all while Minneapolis has record levels of murder and violent crime going on.

The more things change. The more they stay the same.