COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Concerns are mounting at the Branch County jail with the ongoing overcrowded female prisoner population causing serious cost issues with potential litigation on the horizon because of conditions at the lockup faced by the inmates. Sheriff John Pollack says he has been urging County Commissioners to consider placing a millage question on the ballot next year asking for approval of a tax hike to pay for a new jail.
The current aging facility has been in operation for nearly 25 years in the former Maple Lawn Medical Care facility. When the jail was moved from the old building on Pearl Street, it was termed only a temporary ten year solution until a new jail could be constructed.
The deterioration of the building on Marshall Road north of Coldwater cost the county, according to Pollack, just under one million dollars a year between 2013 and 2015 just to keep the jail open.
The female cell area was originally designed to hold 17 inmates while the State Corrections Department said only ten should be allowed in that space. Last week, there were 33 women behind bars. The expense of moving the females to other counties to relieve the overcrowding continues to mount. There have been 3 overcrowdings in the first third of this year with 23 inmates transferred and with no relief anticipated the rest of the year, the projected annual cost for 2017 is nearly $300,000.
Sheriff Pollack told the Coldwater Noon Rotary Club Tuesday that the female prisoner population is probably the number one liability remaining with the current jail setup and he doesn’t believe the women incarcerated there now deserve to be in such cramped living conditions. In his words, “I also don’t believe in treating them like they’re animals”. Following Pollack’s address at the Rotary meeting, club members were given a tour of the jail.
According to Pollack, the initial preliminary estimate to construct a new jail was between $25 million and $30 million, but a recent revision to the plan has suggested it could be built for closer to $20 million.
