That the Boulder County Jail is overcrowded to the point of endangering inmates and staff, and severely hampering criminal rehabilitation efforts at every level of the local justice system isn’t news.
The issue reached a boiling point long ago — annual arrests in the county have fallen by 25 percent since 2000, but the county’s steadily growing, and aging, population has kept the jail at a breaking point for years — and officials are fed up.
Sheriff Joe Pelle pitched an alternative sentencing facility more than a year ago to the Board of County Commissioners, arguing that a new building for inmates with mental health or substance abuse issues — as well as “low-risk” offenders better served by an expanded program allowing them to maintain employment — would immediately alleviate many of the myriad negative side-effects of over-crowding.
Today, there’s no substantial plan, alternate facility or otherwise, in place to fix the problem.
“I’m frustrated,” Pelle said last week. “This county is in analysis paralysis right now.”
The Boulder County commissioners, tasked with approving the county’s annual budget, are aware of the problem and, says Commissioner Deb Gardner, convinced of its “urgency.”
“I appreciate Joe’s frustration,” Gardner said. “We’re going to do everything we can to move the ball forward.”
But while Larimer, Weld and Adams counties, among others, now operate alternative facilities to great, economically efficient effect — Larimer, for example, is now spending $62 less per inmate, per day in alternative sentencing — Boulder County is still at least three months away, Gardner said, from soliciting a consultant to help devise a long-term strategy.
“Other counties that are a lot more conservative than we are are way ahead of us on this,” District Attorney Stan Garnett said. “There’s a culture here of studying everything forever, and I think the commissioners are beginning to understand the issue. What we need, though, is more than just understanding. We need leadership and we need action.”
The commissioners are interested in exploring solutions other than an alternate facility, which would cost an estimated $8 million to $12 million to construct, plus another $4 million in annual operating costs.
“We recognize we can’t wait for the perfect answer,” Gardner said, “but I think there can be a combination of finding more places that we can put (inmates) in the interim. … I think there’s potential to repurpose buildings we already have.”
Meanwhile, overcrowding in the jail continues to intensify every year. This summer is the worst it’s ever been, according to jail director Bruce Haas.
The facility is so packed that inmates spend half their time on lockdown, because the jail staff feels it’s unsafe to let an entire module of offenders out of their cells at the same time.
The jail routinely brushes against, or exceeds, the working limit of 500 inmates — about 200 higher than what officials say would be a stable population. That means most inmates don’t get to go outside for more than one out of every 48 hours.
Whether the jail is packed or relatively empty, the same roster of deputies are tasked with maintaining order, and it’s become increasingly difficult. Assaults on inmates and deputies alike, as well as inmate suicides, are as common as ever.
‘Everyone’s frustrated’
Michael Chase, 54, did a brief stint in the jail 15 years ago. He’s back in today for trespassing and violating the terms of his probation, and he said the two stays were “totally different.”
“And it’s really bad for morale on both sides,” Chase added. “It’s worst on the staff and it’s worse on inmates, equally. Everyone’s frustrated, and it makes for more tempers.”
Jail Deputy Ryan Scheller said he and his colleagues spend more time than ever breaking up fights between inmates packed in so tightly that double- and triple-bunking is the norm, even with violent offenders prone to outbursts.
In May, Scheller went to unclog a toilet in the cell of a man he knew well, and had always gotten along with. That man snuck up from behind and punched Scheller in the face repeatedly, breaking his nose.
Two weeks ago, another inmate smashed a deputy’s head with a lunch tray, breaking bones in the deputy’s face.
“Our HR department does exist interviews with employees,” Pelle said. “Without exception, the last half-dozen I’ve read all expressed concern about staff safety in the jail.”
‘We just haven’t grown’
With so much time and effort devoted simply to keeping the peace, potentially useful programs for the mentally ill or substance-addicted, as well as those attempting to rejoin the workforce, are largely compromised.
“It’s an ugly truth,” jail Sgt. Lydia Mitchell told the Camera last year, “but we don’t consider ourselves rehabilitating people in here, and that’s because resources are too strapped.”
Meanwhile, the jail is shipping inmates off to other counties’ jails almost every day, at per-inmate, per-day costs of about $50, simply to alleviate stress on the Boulder facility. Broomfield County has agreed to start taking on Boulder’s inmates, which Haas and Pelle agree is a “band-aid” solution.
Pelle will leave office in three years, and he said he’s resigned to the fact that, in all likelihood, he won’t see an alternative sentencing facility before his term is up.
“The commissioners and the city council people and the city administrators always have the same questions,” Pelle added. “‘What can we do to reduce the population in jail? What can we do to reduce the caseload?’
“Those are worthwhile questions, but the reality is that this facility is 30 years old, and the population of Boulder County has doubled in that time. There’s a percentage of any population that’s going to need our services, and we just haven’t grown to reach that need.”
Alex Burness: 303-473-1389, burnessa@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/alex_burness