BOISE — As county jails across Idaho continue to deal with overcrowding, some county sheriffs feel their jails are unfairly taking on state inmates who violate parole.
On Monday, Ada County Sheriff Stephen Bartlett pitched a plan to relieve overcrowding at his jail.
With more and more people being housed year on a yearly basis, Bartlett and other county sheriffs facing the same problem are now looking for new solutions.
"Change needs to happen right now," said Bartlett.
Some argue there are issues because of consequences stemming from the 2014 Justice Reinvestment Initiative. Bartlett says the way the parole system works is part of the issue.
"The high number of technical violators through their parole system is causing an incredible strain and an incredible amount of pressure on our local county jails, which we believe shouldn't be there in the first place,” said Bartlett.
When a state inmate is released on parole, if that person violates their terms or commits a new crime they are sent to county jail while the case moves through the court system.
Bartlett says the uptick in parolees housed at the jail cuts down on space for other offenders.
"Thirteen percent of our jail population in September were parole violators only," said Bartlett.
So, to try and fix that problem, Monday, during a criminal justice reinvestment oversight committee meeting, Bartlett proposed an alternative that would keep parole violators out of county jails. The idea revolves around creating a new state facility called a sanction center.
"That would give IDOC and their parole officers the ability to not book those individuals into county jails because of a technical violation, but actually that individual to a state-run facility," said Bartlett.
The sheriff reports that there are currently about 240 people in the Ada County Jail that he believes could be living in a sanction center. Bartlett says that would not only open up space, but also save taxpayers money.
"For our county, it costs about $97 a day per inmate, currently the state of Idaho pays us $55 a day for the first seven days, and then $75 a day after that," said Bartlett.
Bartlett says that even if the new centers go through and free up space, Ada County will have to consider the rising jail population as they assess their master facility plan.
"Our jail is one of those that our county commissioners and our elected officials are talking about," said Bartlett.