SHELL LAKE — An update on the Washburn County Jail study project, which included a list of new inmate classifications, was given to the County Board at a special meeting Monday, April 29.
The county has been looking at the feasibility, design concepts and costs for a new jail in Shell Lake. The current jail is 32 years old and has 30 beds and one holding cell, and inmates often have to be sent out of county for beds. The Department of Corrections (DOC) did an inspection and found the current jail is not up to code in many areas, and there are new classifications for housing inmates per state statute.
The County Board created an Ad Hoc Jail Project Committee that has been working with Venture Architects and the Samuels Group to come up with designs for a potential new jail.
Monday morning, after the Jail Project Committee was restructured due to new County Board members following the April election, the full board heard an update from Samuels Group Vice President Kurt Berner.
“The board has not made a decision to build the jail,” Berner said.
Berner talked about the deficiencies the DOC found in the jail, including leaks and cracks, cramped spaces, limited security and more. He gave a slideshow presentation of a design for the option the architects came up with, which is a three-story, 55,000-square-foot building constructed on the existing site, with 81 beds (with the ability to bunk up to 97 inmates), a safe corridor for transporting inmates from the jail to the courtrooms, a pod in which an officer is stationed 24/7 to watch all the pods and other amenities.
“If you decide to build a jail … before you’re going to move into that jail is about three years,” Berner said.
Berner then went into classifications. Years ago, the classifications were male and female and minimum, medium or maximum security for both genders. Now, there are sub-classifications attached per statute.
“We’re not talking about transgender only,” said Berner. “That’s part of it.”
The sub-classifications are now:
Co-conspiratorSpecial needs mental healthSpecial needs medical healthBehavioral health (a person who cannot live with others)Separation required (such as gang affiliation, law enforcement)High-profile casesSuicide watchDiscipline/administrative confinementJuvenilesRisk of being victimizedLGBTQ+
“Mental health is a very, very big thing these days,” Berner said. “The co-conspirator one is a big one (as well).”
Berner explained that one person falling under a specific classification can consume five beds because “nobody else can be parked in there” if there isn’t another arrestee falling under that class. He said that separation is also important in small communities like Shell Lake because persons can be related.
When asked, DOC Jail Inspector Brad Hoover said persons who are sentenced and also not yet sentenced can be placed in the same cell based on factors, but the county also has to consider who knows whom in a small town.
Berner showed a draft of the website that will be put out to the public, which includes information about the need for a new jail, the taxpayer cost, a video of the design concept, the classifications, FAQs and a spot for taxpayers to ask questions that the county or architects can answer.
Supervisor Brian Melton said he felt things were moving too fast.
“I don’t think the community has had time to digest this,” he said. “Why did we move away from the off-location site?”
Melton said that the proposed concept, which is on the current jail site, has no room for expansion in the future and limited parking.
Berner said if the county decides to build a brand-new justice center off-site, they would have to move the courtrooms, jail, sheriff’s office and other government offices there.
Supervisor Jerry Smith said he lived in a county where an entirely new jail was built, and that county had the land to use.
“I can’t see that happening here,” he said.
Berner then said the financial advisor put together preliminary numbers for the tax impact. The assumption is a 20- or 25-year debt with a 5% interest rate and 3% growth in equalized value.
“This information will be put on the website,” he said.
Supervisor Clint Stariha asked if the design concept included security for jurors. Berner said the focus was driven around the jail connection, but juror security can be added into that.
“It wasn’t part of our original scope,” he said.
“We can’t underestimate the security of our jurors,” Stariha replied.
Supervisor Joe Hoy said he felt a new stand-alone justice center was dismissed too quickly.
Berner said that other counties have gone to new justice centers, but not in recent years because the cost has escalated.
Supervisor Jocelyn Ford asked whether the county has property outside of the county seat, which is Shell Lake.
“Otherwise, we would have to acquire property at a cost,” she said.
First Vice Chair Dave Wilson said, “This is not the only fiscal impact from the tax base that the county is facing.”
He said many Washburn County municipalities are going through revaluations, the Shell Lake School District is facing a referendum and the county is still paying off the new services building, which was built a couple years ago.
“We’ve got to take care of our existing debt, and there’s other things out of our control happening,” Wilson said.
Melton said that the county needs to do something about the jail and make sure they make the right decision for the future, so the board needs to have more discussion and work on numbers.
Supervisor Bob Olsgard said the board needs to be open with its constituents and taxpayers and to listen to what they think, since there will be four town hall meetings about the jail concept in the near future.
“We’re all going to pay for it,” Olsgard said. “I want people at those meetings.”
Hoover said the DOC doesn’t have an opinion on how the county goes about a new jail, but there are jail condition standards they need to meet and they cannot be mixing classifications of inmates. If the county does not move forward, there will have to be serious discussion about liability, he said, so the county needs to show a good faith effort.
“The DOC is going to work with you,” Hoover said.
Stariha said it is imperative to move forward with the town hall meetings to help make a decision.
“We need to do the right thing,” said Board Chair Tim Kessler.
The county has created a draft informational letter to send to the public about the study and project, but they will be sending it back to the ad hoc committee for final approval. Town hall meetings will be scheduled after that.
During public comment, Linda Zillmer of Birchwood thanked the board for their foresight and said she agreed with all comments made.
“Something has to be started right away to separate the classifications,” she said.
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