Platte County sends prisoners to other detention centers amid jail overcrowding
Prisoners in the Platte County jail are being transferred to other Kansas City area detention centers as the jail population has exceeded Platte County’s ability to house them, according to local officials.
Sheriff Mark Owen said the jail’s population has stretched the staff and facility resources to its limits, with many people sleeping on the floor of their cells or in temporary beds. He said the jail, which has a maximum capacity around 230 inmates, cannot safely accommodate the detainees.
“Moving our inmates to other jails is only a short-term solution,” Owen said in a statement Tuesday. “This problem will likely get worse as we come into summer when we traditionally have more inmates.”
Maj. Erik Holland, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said that 21 inmates had been transferred to facilities in Clay and Buchanan counties as of Tuesday night. He said the majority of those being held are pretrial detainees charged with felonies in Platte County.
The arrangement carries a financial cost. To provide the services, the neighboring jails charge the county roughly $60 per inmate per day, Holland said. Other costs include overtime for sheriff’s deputies and fuel costs associated with bringing detainees to court hearings.
Over recent years, as Platte County’s population has grown, Holland said the county has put in place some solutions aimed toward reducing the jail population. Among them are diversion programs, DWI and drug courts, and utilizing house arrest in certain cases.
Jail population concerns led county officials in 2018 to seek a sales tax increase on area residents. The measure would have paid for an estimated 200-bed expansion of the jail. But it was rejected by the voters, prompting the county to evaluate other options.
As county leaders seek longer-term solutions, Sheriff Owen said Tuesday that he is asking for the county commissioners to convene for a special meeting later this month to be briefed on the current state of the Platte County jail.
