BEATRICE – The Gage County Board Wednesday heard a needs assessment report on the potential for a new jail in the county.  The report, given by Prochaska and Associates, of Omaha is a first step by the county under state jail standards regulations…before any project could go forward. The cost to the county was $15,000.


Curt Field is the principal architect for Prochaska and Associates and presented the needs assessment, which takes a 30-year look into the future.
"Knowing that most of these are bond funded, we tried to do a needs assessment for a reasonable price. You don't know if you're going to do it. You've got to complete these mandatory steps, and then we try to do a phase two, which helps you look at where it's going to go, cost of land acquisition...how it's eventually going to sell to the public. So, we want this citizens committee so that the public feels its money was well spent and decisions were well made."


Back in November of 2009, Gage County voters soundly rejected an $11 million jail proposal for a facility of 85 beds, at that time. The needs assessment projects a 71-bed jail and sheriff’s office to last 20 years would cost about $41 million. An 89-bed facility designed for 30 years would cost over $45 million. Field says the needs assessment gives a general picture of the potential costs and impact on annual operating costs.

Jail cost estiimates were provided
Jail cost estiimates were provided  

Gage County is not alone in facing jail capacity issues.  "They are overcrowded now. It's a growing list. That's true in almost every county...it's almost unmanageable in some counties, if you haven't already heard the horror stories, it's pretty bad. There's a lot of liability the county takes on, due to overcrowding....there's also the costs. Transportation costs usually are more than you see, because rarely do you see the real costs attributed."


For several years, Gage County has contracted to hold prisoners in Washington County, Kansas and in Lexington and Washington County in Nebraska…when the local jail population is at capacity.


Jail populations generally dropped during the pandemic, but have otherwise risen over the years. "The terminology that jails use across the country is ADP, or average daily population. Average daily population is only that. To build a future trend line off of ADP....the problem of ADP is that it doesn't account for peaks. It's like the airport at Christmas time. If you don't design for Christmas, you can't even run the airport. The same is true for a jail. If you don't design for a peak, you're in trouble."


The Gage County Jail, built in the 1970s, is rated at a 30 prisoner capacity, though it’s functional capacity is closer to 25. Field said, "A 20 to 30 year forecast, just using linear progression...gives you about 76 beds at 30 years, and 65 beds at 20 years. And, you're rated at 30 and 25 capacity."


The needs assessment focused on the adult jail population. Any move to add a juvenile detention facility requires a separate facility and staff, under law. There are currently four juvenile holding facilities in Nebraska.


Field said if a county is considering a bond issue, a citizens committee is utilized as a step in the process.  "These people have to have participated materially in the process, so they can say we've looked at this...the county's being transparent, we're not spending money we don't have, it's a genuine need. We're taxpayers like you are. A jail is not an item that does terribly well among the voting public."


Recently, Adams County opened a new 156 bed jail for about $30 million, but the sheriff’s office part of that project was removed. Field says most counties hope for a jail project to have a lifespan of 50-years.