TWIN FALLS, Idaho — After decades of increased caseloads, Twin Falls County has a new courthouse to tackle it all. Now, the county is addressing another issue: the ever-increasing number of inmates in the jail awaiting those cases.
WATCH: County building 160-bed facility to address severe overcrowding that has forced inmates to be housed elsewhere for years
For years, Twin Falls County Jail has been packed, exceeding capacity and forcing the county to outsource beds to other jails at the expense of taxpayers.
"For the jail-side, it's been probably a decade we've been crowded," said Capt. Doug Huges of Twin Falls County Jail.
The numbers tell the story of severe overcrowding. The facility has 254 beds but currently houses 304 inmates inside, with an additional 38 inmates housed elsewhere.
"In total we have about 339 prisoners incarcerated – 25 beds in Jerome, 13 housed off-site. So, we're about at 304 total count inside our facility, and we have 254 beds," Huges said.
Simply put, there is no more room.
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For years, the county has been playing catch-up with the inmate population, but has never fully caught up.
"We've done some additions in the recent past, just to try and keep up with the population, and we're just not able to keep up," said Don Hall, Twin Falls County Commissioner.
In 2019, voters in Twin Falls County said no to a $25 million bond to construct a new jail, forcing the county to take another route to fix the issues.
That route included the combination of county reserves and tapping into ARPA funds. Now, with the money secure, expansion is a go. But downtown is not where it will take place.
"We're moving all that expansion out to Wright Avenue, where the juvenile detention was and juvenile services... we're reconfiguring those, and that's where a lot of our jail population will be," Hall said.
The new jail will have the capability to house up to 160 inmates, taking the stress of overcrowding off the main jail downtown.
"Being incarcerated is uncomfortable anyway. You're just adding another level of stress onto that," Huges said.
Inmates being processed and awaiting trial will make up the majority of the population at downtown jail, while those with some time on their hands will be housed at the new facility.
Work is currently underway on Phase A, which includes the construction of the support structure for the new jail. Phase B will be the construction of the housing unit.
That's expected to begin soon and be completed within two years.
