Officials addressing city jail shortcomings

An evaluation early this year of the Cape Girardeau jail found it unclean, understaffed and potentially unsafe for jailers and prisoners.

Lt. John R. Davis, who oversees jail operations, disputes the allegation that the jail is dirty and said the police department is addressing other concerns as funding allows.

But money is tight, he said.

The jail report was part of a comprehensive evaluation of the Cape Girardeau Police Department by the Police Executive Research Forum begun earlier this year and completed at the end of September.

According to the evaluation, the most serious problem that needed to be addressed was faulty monitors that personnel rely upon to watch jail activity.

Poor lighting and image quality at times made observation "virtually useless," the report stated, and jailers or prisoners in jeopardy could go unnoticed as a result.

A new monitor and camera was purchased to correct that problem, Davis said.

The downstairs monitors can be observed at the dispatch console and at the station commander's desk. The jail is upstairs in the police department.

Jailers, who work days only, are limited to unarmed self-defense training and pepper spray. In case of an emergency, they rely on the cameras and downstairs staff.

Jailers have requested additional training on dealing with distraught prisoners, but no local programs are available, Davis said.

Panic-button alarms, once used at the jail, are now inoperable. One of the recommendations in the evaluation is to install them at key locations in the jail or to give jailers portable alarms.

The police department budget won't allow for that, said Davis. "It's a fiscal issue," he said.

There are only two full-time jailers. Another jailer position is vacant. Since jailers are required to deliver food at meal times and transport and oversee prisoners on work release, prisoners are often left unattended.

There is bunk space for about 28 prisoners. The jail held 11 prisoners at 9 p.m. Friday.

Collect-call-only telephones are in each cell, but no televisions are available, and there is little opportunity for exercise.

One prisoner said Thursday, "They need to make it more like county," referring to the new, modern county jail at Jackson, Mo. The inmate said the city jail is old and ugly.

The jail serves as a short-term holding facility for people arrested by police. It also serves as a place to confine people who are fulfilling municipal sentences. Sometimes it holds prisoners awaiting appearances at the federal courthouse.

The report described the general cleanliness of the jail to be "less than adequate" and cited debris and soiled materials on the floor of unoccupied jail cells and the cell of one belligerent tenant who had thrown several meals on the floor of his cell.

Jailer Garry Hurt said when a cell has just been vacated, limited staffing prevents the immediate cleaning of the space. Inmates who aren't eligible for community service often work off fines by cleaning showers and cells.

Davis said the jail is clean, but inmates leaving their cells don't always clean up after themselves, and it's not uncommon for them to trash the place. "It's not like home. What do they care?"

abuchanan@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160