By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
It’s not uncommon for Wood County inmates to be doubled up in the booking holding cells, or even placed in an office where the furniture has been replaced with a cot.
Though far from ideal, the current booking area of the Wood County jail just does not have room for all the traffic, especially all the special needs created by drug use or mental health conditions.
“It’s a ticking time bomb,” Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn said Tuesday morning to the county commissioners. “It’s not a safe way to do it, but we don’t have any options.”
But the sheriff hopes that will change.
Wasylyshyn made his pitch to the commissioners again for expansion of the jail’s booking and medical areas. He made the same request about five years ago, but at that time the commissioners approved the part of the expansion allowing more beds at the facility, but not the booking area. At that point, the booking expansion was estimated at around $5 million.
When the Wood County jail was built in 1989, it was intended to have a larger inmate booking area. But efforts to trim costs resulted in the booking area being smaller than planned.
Wasylyshyn said the expansion can no longer be put on hold. The current booking area has five cells, intended to hold one person each. The request is that the area be expanded to six individual cells for men, five individual cells for women, two group cells for men, and one group cell for women. The group holding cells could accommodate 10 each.
Since the jail first opened in 1990, the needs have changed. Now the facility is booking more people with drug addictions and people feeling suicidal. So the holding cells are being used for these people, who must be kept under watch. One person who was deemed suicidal, but did not qualify for care at a psychotic facility, was kept in a holding cell for six months, where he could be checked on every 10 minutes.
“Everyone knows we have a problem with drugs everywhere,” said Ronda Gibson, jail administrator.
“It makes us not have holding cells for what is actually intended,” she said.
Gibson estimated on any given day there are four to five active detox cases that have to be watched at all times. “The female population everywhere has gone up as well. They are under the drug spell,” she said.
The cells are also being taken up by and people with severe behavioral issues such as screaming, kicking doors and “throwing feces on the windows,” the sheriff said.
“I could send you video of people yelling and screaming all night long,” Gibson said to the commissioners.
Wasylyshyn said the vast majority of the 3,700 inmates booked annually go right into the general population area of the jail.
“Most of the inmates are cooperative. Most of them are good people who have made some bad decisions,” he said. “We want to treat them with respect.”
Wood County Commissioner Joel Kuhlman agreed, saying most of the inmates are not in the county jail for heinous crimes. “We know these people and we don’t want them to not be safe.”
Wasylyshyn and Gibson also emphasized the need for a larger medical area, located closer to the booking area.
“There’s just no privacy,” Wasylyshyn said. “It’s not conducive for the medical staff to do what they need to do.”
Moving the medical area closer to booking would allow for better use of staff, he said. “It would be a more efficient use of some clerical staff.”
The sheriff also asked that the renovation include plans for a larger sally port that would allow for buses, additional showers since there is now just one, and more attorney visitation rooms.
The commissioners asked Wasylyshyn and Gibson to return with an updated expansion plan, recent booking statistics and information on updated jail standards.
