Kansas City is having trouble hiring enough corrections officers to staff its new temporary jail in the East Bottoms, and it appears the facility won’t house inmates until next year.
The city says the modular jail next to a tow lot is a stopgap measure as it figures out a permanent detention center.
But at $22 million, the building looks pretty permanent, some city council members say.
“There's nothing temporary about that so-called temporary jail,” councilman Johnathan Duncan told KCUR. “The foundation is concrete. The pipes and the plumbing are all very permanent. And the jail cells themselves are the same exact steel jail cells that would be in a ‘permanent’ jail."
The temporary jail will have 100 beds and will require about 100 corrections officers and supervisors.
So far, the city has hired about 10% of needed staff. An academy class is scheduled to begin Dec. 9, Assistant City Manager Lane Cline told the police board last week.
Another complication: The jail has no kitchen or laundry.
“There's some things we've got to figure out,” councilman Crispin Rea said. “It's been a long time since the city operated a jail, but we have experienced staff and consultants that I think can figure that out.”
In fact, Kansas City has not operated a jail since 2009.
Right now, nobody can say exactly when the temporary jail will house inmates.
“I understand there's a certificate of occupancy that's been issued, so now it is really just a hiring issue, and I expect us to resolve it soon,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said.
About Kansas City's temporary jail
The road to the temporary jail was long and winding.
Last October, the city council approved almost $16 million to build a jail that officials hoped would be ready before the World Cup.
It wasn’t, but the Kansas City Police Department made only a handful of arrests during the games.
In January, the council added an additional $3.5 million to the construction budget and then, in March, another $1.3 million, which brought the total to roughly $22 million.
Even after the jail opens, officials said Kansas City will still need to ship some inmates to rural Missouri.
The city has been spending about $1.8 million a year to house inmates in Vernon and Johnson counties.
But, Duncan said, the counties get to pick the inmates they want. If an inmate has a substance abuse or mental health problem, for example, those counties can say no.
“Those who are get rejected from Vernon and Johnson County will be housed in this ‘temporary’ modular jail. But really, they should be housed in more of a medical-type facility,” he said.
The council this week heard an updated plan for a permanent jail.
The city now wants to add to the temporary facility at a cost of $120 million.
That would pay for about 80 more beds, a kitchen, laundry, visiting space and administrative offices.
Lucas said 180 beds is the right size for Kansas City.
“I've in many ways never been a fan of a giant Taj Mahal-type detention facility. I don't think we needed to spend $300 million or even $250 million,” he said.
This comes at a time when Kansas City police want to build a new Central Patrol Division campus, and many on the city council want to establish a community resource center to offer crisis observation and detox services.
Both of those have a projected cost of about $90 million each.
Many on the city council said they support all of these projects, but there are limited funds.
“We're going to have to get clear on what our priorities are and what we're trying to fund,” Duncan said.
