Rising jail population sparks thoughts of expansion

The methamphetamine boom in the 1990s and state-mandated increases in police training over the past decade have contributed to a tripling of the Cape Girardeau County jail population in the last 10 years.

The new jail, which was built in 2001, and the old jail averaged a combined 178 inmates last year. The rising population has county officials at least talking about an expansion.

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones broached the topic during a speaking engagement at a local civic club.

"I just know it's getting close to daggum capacity," he said in a telephone interview. "This is just going crazy. In 1995, we had about 60 prisoners on average. ... Then we got a jail built that would house 216. That projection was supposed to take care of Cape Girardeau County for a long, long time."

Sheriff John Jordan said it's a little early yet to do any serious planning about a jail expansion and that he hopes the population will level off in upcoming years. He said officials will probably start talking seriously when the population approaches the 200 mark. Jail administrator J.P. Mulcahy guessed that planning would have to begin in the next five years or so.

Jordan said he remembers joking with Jones when the jail was built that they were both glad they wouldn't have to mess with the jail space as long as they were in office.

But there is no way anyone could have expected such a dramatic increase, Jordan said.

The county jail held an average of 45 federal prisoners per day in 2004. Part of the reason the county decided to build a jail in the first place is because a federal prisoner contract could pay for the building.

Before the jail was built, Jordan said the county was spending about $400,000 a year to house county inmates at other facilities. Today, he said, that cost would be roughly $1 million.

The county has guaranteed space for 33 federal prisoners. The number of federal prisoners at the jail has been rising as well, going up 27 percent from 2003 to 2004 and 30 percent from 2002 to 2003, said Jim Woodward, the Missouri Eastern District court clerk. The more federal prisoners the county holds, the more money it receives. The rate is a little more than $50 per day per prisoner.

Jordan says one reason the number of inmates has increased so dramatically is because of better law enforcement training mandated by the state.

For instance, in the early to mid-1990s, a person could become a police officer in three weeks. Now, a minimum of 480 hours of training is required to become a law-enforcement officer. That would be 12 weeks, assuming 40 hours of training per week.

"Along with that training, you started having better trained officers in the field who have better recognition for the crimes," he said. "That, in combination with the methamphetamine boom, all played a factor in it."

He also said that more crimes, especially traffic crimes like driving while intoxicated, are reported from cell phones now.

Some county officials are nervous that when the new federal courthouse is finished, more federal prosecutors will be assigned to Southeast Missouri. That could lead to more cases being tried here and more prisoners added to the county jail.

However, federal prosecutor Jim Martin said no one in Washington, D.C., has given any indication that more prosecutors will be assigned to Cape Girardeau.

Currently, the federal office in Cape Girardeau has five prosecutors, two secretaries and one student.

"I think the combination we have with excellent lawyers in Cape Girardeau and the spillover we willingly handle up here in St. Louis, I think we're covering the federal law enforcement needs in Southeast Missouri," Martin said.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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