Kootenai County has had an inmate overcrowding problem for a number of years forcing it to house inmates outside the county since 2006 at a cost of millions of dollars, according to a story in the Coeur d’Alene Press.
On Wednesday, county commissioners heard a presentation from Rocky Mountain Corrections on what is involved in that company constructing a new jail with private funds. One commissioner said if the company can build the facility and it costs the county less money to house inmates there, it is an idea clearly worth considering.
Even if built privately, the jail would be leased and operated by the county.
This is just another avenue to support the “Police State” more jails, more reclassification of misdemeanors into felonies to make all aspects of the legal system more money. More cops to arrest; more work for attorneys; county employees working for the jails; more state employees to keep track of the county employees; more judges; and a legal system built around compromise and the lessor or two evils i.e fighting for justice and compromise cuz it’s cheaper and spending time in jail. What we nead is a viable alternative to throwing everyong in jail.
The present jail was put in operation in 1987 and is now to small. At that time we had about 1200 people in the state prison system, now there is about 7000 in the state system in Idaho.
Kootenai County like the rest of Idaho has encouraged unbridled growth which has of course broght more crime.
When are we going to learn that more people is not better for our quality of life or standard of living.
The people that want it are the ones that profit from the growth and when they are done they can afford to do whatever they want.