Correctional staff shortages at the Lake County jail compelled the sheriff’s office to transfer 150 inmates to the McHenry County jail.
Inmate transfers began in January, and the first three months of the temporary housing contract are expected to cost Lake County $1.68 million, the sheriff’s office told the county’s Law and Judicial Committee on Feb. 27. The funds will cover inmate costs until about April 30, the sheriff’s office said.
The fiscal transfer was approved by the committee, but will still need approval from the county’s Finance Committee and full board.
The contract between Lake County Sheriff John Idleburg and McHenry County Sheriff Robb Tadelman for the temporary housing of Lake County inmates was established on Dec. 29.
The transfer contract is for the “safety and security” of both correctional officers and inmates, according to James Chamernik, the business manager for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
The contract between the two sheriff departments states McHenry County will accept up to 150 male inmates at a rate of $100 per day, to cover the cost of housing, transporting, feeding and providing clothing and medical care to the inmates.
At this time, no further transfers are expected as the Lake County Sheriff’s Office does not intend to raise the number of transfers allowed in the agreement, said Chris Covelli, spokesperson for the county’s sheriff’s office.
Covelli said it’s inconclusive whether the temporary inmate housing costs to McHenry County will be more or less expensive than the costs associated with housing inmates at the Waukegan facility. There are “fixed and floating” costs associated with operating a jail, and those costs are largely impacted by a fluctuating inmate population, he said.
“We anticipate this transfer will ultimately be hovering around the break-even point. It could be slightly lower or slightly higher, it all depends on the unknown variable,” Covelli said. “With our decrease in overtime, medical costs, food costs, that’s the money we are currently using to pay McHenry County. But if our inmate population continues to increase, those fixed and floating costs increase, thus, could impact the savings.”
The Lake County Sheriff’s Corrections division is down nearly 40% of its normal staffing levels due to vacancies, family and medical leave and other absences, according to the office.
At current staffing levels, Lake County correctional officers cannot safely operate the jail, officials said. The county is working to develop new recruitment efforts to address the staff shortages.
The Waukegan jail facility can house up to 740 inmates. As of Feb. 27, there were 516 people at the correctional facility.
Thirty-five miles away at the McHenry County Jail, the correctional officer-to-inmate ratio is much different.
There are only about 140 inmates at the Woodstock facility, according to Lake County Chief of Corrections Richard Clouse, but the facility has enough staff for about 600 inmates.
A Mexican undocumented man sits in the McHenry County Jail in Woodstock on Tuesday, March 7, 2017. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
The discrepancy is largely due to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contract McHenry County had with the federal government, Clouse said. When the contract expired, the facility in Woodstock lost about 500 ICE detainees but maintained the same staffing levels, about a 1-to-1 ratio of staff to inmates, he added.
Since 2018, Lake County has hired 86 correctional officers, according to Chamernik. But in that same time period, the department lost 166 correctional staff members, leaving the department with 60 vacancies.
Recruitment for new officers has been “the same as before,” Clouse reported at the committee meeting. The department has entirely revamped the recruitment process – which takes about four months from application to starting the job – and has recruits in multiple stages of the process.
Clouse said he suspects the Waukegan jail supervision model and current correctional officer wages are two reasons for the low recruitment and hiring.
The Lake County jail was built in 1988 with a direct supervision model, a management philosophy that places staff and inmates in an open setting for supervision. In Waukegan, there are anywhere from 30 to 50 inmates in a pod with one correctional officer.
Clouse said this model, while more humane for inmates, is challenging to hire for and very staff-intensive. Unless a new facility is built, the jail is not able to change the supervision model.
In terms of wages, Clouse said Lake County Corrections was one of the top payers in the state when he started 30 years ago, but now believes the county lags behind in offering competitive wages and benefits.
“We’re not the premier place to come anymore,” he said at the committee meeting. “I don’t know if money is completely the answer, but money for the correctional officers would go a long way.”
