Kane County Jail Disturance

Date: Thursday, December 5, 1996
Source: By Linda Young, Tribune Staff Writer.
Section: METRO DU PAGE

Copyright Chicago Tribune

JAIL UPRISING LEADS TO EXTRA BILLS FOR KANE COUNTY

   The last of nearly four dozen prisoners shipped to neighboring counties
after an uprising at Kane County Jail two weeks ago will be back in their
Geneva jail cells by Thursday, Kane County Sheriff Ken Ramsey said Wednesday.

   But while day-to-day functions at the jail have returned to normal, Kane
officials are left to pay the $3,500-a-day bill for that extra jail space and
to ponder how they can prevent tensions at the overcrowded jail from boiling
over again.

   Kane's $108 million budget allows no money for boarding out prisoners, and
paying that bill is sure to be at the top of the agenda on Tuesday when newly
elected County Board Chairman Mike McCoy (R-Aurora) presides over his first
meeting since taking the oath of office on Monday.

   The 26-member board, which includes seven freshmen, is to debate a
resolution assuring neighboring counties that Kane will pay the bill in a
timely fashion whenever the sheriff deems it necessary to move prisoners
elsewhere. But its current wording has a few holes.



   The head count at the jail on Tuesday was 446, a number that Ramsey said
is manageable even though the often-expanded 20-year-old facility is designed
to hold no more than 302 prisoners.

   "When we get up to around 500, it's unmanageable and too dangerous,"
Ramsey said. "This number, while it's not ideal, is a number we've worked
with successfully in the past and normally we can handle it."



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