Iroquois County Officials Explore Closing the County Jail

The Chairman of the Iroquois County Board says a proposal to close the county jail may not be perfect, but is worth looking at for three to four months.

Ron Schroeder commends County Sheriff Eldon Sprau for at least coming up with a cost-saving measure. It's costing about $600,000 a year to operate the aging jail, which was built in 1964. Sprau says at this rate, his fuel budget will be exhausted in six months, keeping deputies from patrolling. Schroder says taking prisoners to Kankakee County would save about $250,000, and enable Iroquois County to hire back four sheriff's deputies who lost their jobs last week. However, closing the jail would mean 10 correctional officers. Schroder says the only other alternative, a voter-backed public safety tax, has seen no success with voters. "When the public safety tax for remodeling the jail failed, then we went to a public safety tax to keep the people on staff, that failed," says Schroder. "We went to unions and asked for somebacks - that failed. So you tell me what we're supposed to do."

Officials in Kankakee County have already agreed to house prisoners from Iroquois County. But Watseka Police Chief Roger Lebeck says the county's savings would mean additional costs for him, paying another officer overtime while one of his officers took a prisoner to Kankakee. Lebeck suspects closing the jail would mean more I-Bonds, or prisoners who are issued notices to appear in court. "You must show up at that date and time, or else a warrant will be issued for your arrest, that kind of thing,' says Lebeck. "We don't I-Bond on felonies, there's no bond amount set for that statutorily, and that's something a judge sets so normally they sit in the jail until they see the judge. So domestic batteries, those kinds of things, they'll have to go to the jail."

Schroder says Iroquois County Board members expect to hold several meetings before holding a vote on closing the jail.