Jackson County won’t accept Kansas City’s inmates at its new jail. Where can they go?

Kansas City officials are talking quietly about spending $150 million or more for a new city jail.

Voters are already contemplating a November bond election tied to $175 million for Bartle Hall repairs, parks and affordable housing. Kansas City is thinking about a potential nine-figure public investment in rebuilding Barney Allis Plaza, which crumbles as we speak.

The city appears ready to inject itself into new stadium discussions. Streetlights are being replaced, at an up-front cost of $21 million. And, of course, potholes and deteriorating sidewalks must be fixed.

Add it all up, and you’re talking real money. That’s why Kansas City residents must pay close attention to various jail construction proposals now floating around at 12th and Oak.

Kansas City needs a place to house its inmates, typically nonviolent offenders serving short sentences. It doesn’t have a permanent place to do that, so a new jail is on the table.

At the same time, the public’s pocketbook is not bottomless, no matter what elected officials think. Kansas Citians will have to decide — perhaps as early as next year — if they want a new city jail, or if there are alternatives that make more sense when compared with other needs.

City jail discussions are accelerating largely because Jackson County has apparently decided to wash its hands of the city’s jail problem. The county is building its own jail, at a current estimated cost of $260 million, with roughly 1,250 beds. It has apparently told city officials it won’t add facilities to house Kansas City’s inmates.

This is surpassingly silly. We’ve argued repeatedly for cooperation between the city and county on jail space, advice that has been ignored. Taxpayers will suffer for such intransigence.

In a statement, the county said “we are continuing to look for opportunities that would be beneficial for the city of Kansas City,” but it was no more specific than that. Groundbreaking for the county’s new jail is Sept. 7.

We know this: Complaining won’t solve the actual problem, which is that the city has no jail, forcing it to house roughly 100 inmates in jails in Missouri’s Vernon and Johnson counties. Shipping out inmates like this is unfair to families and friends of prisoners. It also costs money: at least $1.8 million a year, city officials say.

Kansas City must find an answer, one way or another. It’s been shipping out prisoners since 2019, yet is no closer to solving this issue.

The goals should be easy to set. Kansas City must house its inmates humanely. It should provide services to prisoners who suffer from mental illness. Police and public safety must be protected. And it must be cost-effective.

Here are questions the city should answer:

▪ What size jail is needed? The city holds about 100 people in custody, on average, each day. Yet a recent outline presented to city leaders called for 310 jail spaces, and additional room for counseling and treatment, at a cost of $150 million and growing.

It isn’t clear that much room is necessary.

▪ Are there alternatives? Some at City Hall have discussed buying the existing Jackson County jail annex downtown, which would house about 200 people, with renovations. What would that cost? Would it be more convenient than building next to the new county jail near U.S. Highway 40 and Interstate 70?

▪ If the city rents jail beds at out-of-town facilities, why in the world couldn’t it instead rent those beds from the new county jail?

▪ Could the city use some of the money it spends annually on the police — state law requires the city to spend 20% of its general fund revenue to fund the police department — to pay for jail space? “I would look for debt related to a jail to be funded through the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department budget,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said. “They manage the jail. They’re the ones pushing us the most.”

Cities hold prisoners, and must provide for them. At the same time, there are other pressing needs, and public patience for taxes and spending may fade. Kansas City must make the case that a new jail is worth the investment it will ask residents to make.