A consultant’s findings from four years ago stating that the Platte County Detention Center needs more beds stands, after an updated report was presented Monday.
Bill Garnos, who conducted a jail study for Platte County in early 2019, returned to present his updated findings to the Platte County Commission at the Monday, May 15 meeting, held in Platte City.
Garnos is a nationally-recognized consultant who resides in Gladstone. Formerly mayor of Gladstone, Garnos now serves on the city council.
Giving a brief overview of his 2019 report, Garnos said at that time the 98-page report tried to answer numerous questions about the jail issue, including providing crime projections.
“At the time there were so many questions about the jail I think I foolishly tried to answer all of them,” he said. “I think we ended up not being able to see the forest for the trees and that’s something I take responsibility for.”
Looking at the numbers since 2019, Garnos noted the steep drop in average daily population (ADP) at the jail in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the number of bookings at the jail has recovered and stabilized, with the numbers now back to pre-pandemic levels.
Additionally, prior to 2020 the county housed inmates for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to bring in revenue by renting spare beds when they were available. The ICE detainee program was ended in March 2020 due to the pandemic and was never reinstated.
In 2019, Garnos estimated that within five years the county would need 237 jail beds; in 10 years, 283 beds ; in 15 years, 330 beds; in 20 years, 376 beds.
Garnos five year projection has already proved accurate, with jail populations soaring to 230 last year. Those projections remain largely unchanged in Garnos’ update. In his report, he states available space and basic services at the jail are “maxed out” and operating beyond its intended capacity.
Built in 1998 with about 150 beds, the Platte County Detention Center currently has 180 beds. In early 2022, the jail reached its all-time high population and the sheriff’s office was forced to send inmates to Clay and Buchanan counties.
“When the population in the detention center is between 220-230 inmates it pushes our staff and facility resources too far,” sheriff Mark Owen said at the time. “We cannot safely keep this many inmates at a time in our jail.”
The matter is not as simple as counting one bed per inmate, because due to federal requirements inmates must be separated by gender and classification, leading to the industry guideline known as the “85 percent rule,” meaning if the jail is 80 percent full, it’s effectively full due to those separation requirements. The Platte County jail is considered full under that rule if it has 153 inmates.
“Jail issues are one of those things where reasonable minds can differ,” Garnos said. Some may look at the numbers and state more beds are needed and others may say too many people are being incarcerated for various reasons.
Presiding commissioner Scott Fricker asked Garnos to outline the dangers of having an overcrowded facility and he echoed Owens’ statement.
“When you start packing more people in you’re going to have more problems,” Garnos said.
District commissioner Joe Vanover noted that even without the cushion of ICE detainees, the county’s ADP has continued to rise.
“Wishing for fewer dangerous criminals is like wishing for more rainbows and unicorns,” Vanover said. “The current jail is absolutely maxed out. We need more space ready to put the criminals that are too dangerous to be left free in our community. We can wait until the situation is so bad that something terrible happens and Platte County gets sued, or we can fix this problem before it gets out of hand.”
Owen said ICE detainees provided a cushion, as did municipal inmates, neither of which have returned since the pandemic, yet population numbers at the jail have continued to rise.
Fricker reiterated the 85 percent rule, stating that Platte County currently has many inmates sleeping on the floor due to those federal separation requirements.
District commissioner Dagmar Wood said it was important for commissioners to communicate why it’s not good to have inmates on the floor.
“I’ve heard from people I’m friends with – who cares? They’ve done a crime, we’re not here to make it all comfortable for them, so why should it matter?” Wood said.
The answer is safety, both for the inmates and for the jail staff. When inmates get into fights the jail staff is forced to wade into the fray to separate combatants. Additionally, some inmates not involved in violence may get hurt during a fight.
In December 2021, a full-scale riot forced the sheriff’s office to call in outside assistance from Clay County. Platte and Clay County SWAT teams entered the jail with rifles firing “pepper balls” to break up a riot involving 25 inmates in one cell block and several in another.
Fricker said the jail’s life is about over. Built 25 years ago, it has lasted that long and still continues to function. He thanked the sheriff’s office for doing its best to keep the jail operational and in the best condition possible under the circumstances.
“I don’t think the commission can ignore this any longer,” Fricker said.