Author:jcjusticecenter
Search
Subscribe to Posts via Email
Join 1 other subscriber
Newsletter Subscribe
Prison Projects Symposium
Recent News
- Who Makes Money From Private Prisons? (CNBC 29 Dec 2019)
- Global Interest in Justice Center Continues
- HBO & Vice Media Special Report: Fixing The Criminal Justice System (Video)
- Breaking News: Barack Obama Goes to Prison…
- EVENT – Electronic Cigarettes: Health Safety & Public Policy of eCigs
- Dubuque council votes to eliminate jail time for simple misdemeanors
- Behind the Shield: Iowa City Community Policing Videos
- Tobacco, Pot, and the Public Interest — WorldCanvass Event Video
- Riverfront Crossings Park Community Planning Event
- Sesame Street Presents: Echoes Of Incarceration
- Iowa City Equity Report – 8 January 2015 Update
- In Our Care: Fort Madison Penitentiary Documentary
Online Public Survey 2.0 – Design a Justice Center Online
Announcements
- 15 August 2013 - Justice Center News for August 2013
- 14 August 2013 - Justice Center Community Survey & Feedback
- 10 August 2013 - County Holds Public Forums
- 7 June 2013 - JCJC One Month Later: Where Do We Go From Here?.
- 20 May 2013 - New more inclusive Website focus.
May 1, 2013 | jcjusticecenter | 0 Comments
Need for a new jail has become critical
[Source: “Need for a new jail has become critical,” Press Citizen, 1 May 2013, by Brad Kunkel]
I’ve been a deputy at the Johnson County Sheriff’s office since 2001, and worked in the jail for over five years. I can tell you firsthand that the need for a new jail is critical.
I can also tell you that the vast majority of the current overcrowding is not due to drug offenses, victimless crimes and college students. What has increased is the number of violent offenders and probation/parole violators.
When the 2000 jail bond issue failed by a wide margin (25.5 percent), voters made it clear they had questions to be answered and alternatives to be pursued before approving a new jail. Since then, most of the questions have been answered and alternatives to incarceration have been implemented.
The revised project came within 4 percentage points of passing last November, and the current proposal contains even more revisions.
The work has been done. Alternatives are in place. Questions have been answered. Please vote “yes” Tuesday.
Brad Kunkel
Solon
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: Commentary, Endorsement, incarceration conditions, inmate conditions, Iowa City, jail conditions, jail diversion, jail occupancy, jail population and offenses, johnson county, justice center, letter to the editor, Press-Citizen, space
Categories: Commentary, Endorsement