The Platte County Detention Center has hit an all-time population high this week, with Sheriff’s Office officials updating commissioners on the situation at the Monday, Aug. 22 meeting.

The 180 bed facility in Platte City began the week with a total of 232 prisoners, although only 212 of them were in the facility at the time. Nearly 20 detainees were relocated to Buchanan County, with the remainder in area hospitals, for various reasons, or at other facilities.

Major Erik Holland told commissioners the sheriff’s office did have six inmates housed in Clay County as well, but they had to be picked up last week as that facility was also facing a spike in housing needs.

“The metro area jails are pretty much at capacity,” Holland said, as even Cass County is nearly full.

Now, the sheriff’s office has been forced to look toward the Columbia, Mo., or Nevada, Mo. facilities. If those are unavailable, they may need to look as far afield as Springfield, Mo.

It’s the newest problem in the jail overcrowding situation, which has been ongoing for several months.

The current facility was built in 1998 with about 150 beds. Over the years, about 30 more beds were added, but opportunities for real expansion were few.

Serious discussions about the need to expand the jail facility kicked off around 2012 with a report by Captain Randy Pittman.

In 2014, then-commissioners contracted Goldberg Group Architects to assess needs and come up with options – which included a $21 million 315-bed facility.

After the report of a commission-appointed study group – which included current district commissioner Dagmar Wood - concerns over the population projection data used by Goldberg and the price tag shelved the project for a few years.

In 2018, the commission hired consultant Bill Garnos, who reviewed the past jail studies and projected future needs. Late that year, he delivered a report stating the county could need to double its bed capacity over the next 20 years, to hold 376 inmates by 2038.

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, jail populations dropped, in part due to mitigation efforts to keep low-level offenders out of the facility. Now, the in-custody population is again spiking.

In March, the sheriff’s office was forced to begin detention center transfers due to overcrowding. It was a situation Sheriff Mark Owen has warned of for years.

Over the next few weeks, commissioners met with Owen, prosecutor Eric Zahnd and presiding judge Thomas Fincham to tackle safe methods to reduce the population.

In June, commissioners met with All Detainment Solutions (ADS), which constructed a modular jail facility for Greene County, Mo. in Springfield.

Holland said the estimated cost to install a modular facility in Platte City was around $1 million, not including site preparation work and additional security measures.

Holland said while this option is still under consideration, county officials are still gathering information on options.

Meanwhile, the county has so far paid ten of thousands to Buchanan and Clay counties to house its prisoners.

Owen has warned that the system of housing prisoners off-site comes with another set of problems, as there are safety concerns involving the transfer and transportation of inmates, plus time, fuel and other costs associated with driving the inmates back and forth to court appearances. The further afield the county is forced to go for off-site housing, the more these costs will pile up.

At the Monday meeting, presiding commissioner Ron Schieber asked Holland to clarify what it means for inmates to be in the detention center on a “24-hour investigative hold.”

He questioned how many of those would stay in the jail for more than those 24 hours and whether or not influxes of those short-term detainees are causing overcrowding.

Holland and district commissioner Joe Vanover - who himself served as a prosecuting attorney in Platte County - explained the purpose of the investigative hold.

Some inmates held under this blanket term are short-term inmates who may soon bond out, Holland said.

Vanover said most are being considered for state felony charges - sometimes serious charges - and so would become longer-term inmates.