When it first built thirty years ago, the Kane County IL jail was planned around the needs of inmates foremost. It didn’t even have bars on most windows, to make them feel more comfortable.
Back then, male guards wore blazers and female guards wore skirts. Inmates had more than arts and crafts—they had a beauty parlor, a gym and an extensive law library—all gone now … But after more than three decades, serenity has been replaced by tension, which bubbled over three years ago when an inmate grabbed an officer’s hair while other inmates pelted her with feces and bottles. Now jail officials hope that a new facility in would ease crowding and bring a fresh start. The construction of the new Kane County Jail in neighboring St. Charles is nearing completion and inmates will move in by September, Sheriff Pat Perez said last week.
The new jail will hold 768 inmates, compared with the current jail’s capacity of 450. The extra space will save the county money after spending more than $60 per day housing inmates in surrounding counties.
Officers say the new jail will give inmates less opportunity to cause mischief. The facility will be under direct supervision, meaning officers will stay in the cellblock with inmates. Under the current system, an officer walks past an inmate’s cell every 30 minutes. “For that 30 minutes, there’s no one to supervise them and that’s when they have time to ply light fixture molding or pieces of metal, anything to fashion into a weapon,” Perez said.
Instead of keys, guards will control doors with handheld computers and touch screens. And instead of one floor, the new jail will have six floors, a configuration designed to thwart escapes, Perez said. “Go ahead and jump out of a six-story window, and I’m not sure there’s much left of you when you get out,” Perez said.
There is a lot more detail at the Chicago Tribune.