May 20, 2008 10:22 pm
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By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
CARTHAGE, Mo. — It will be another two months before the Jasper County Commission receives a final report assessing space needs for a possible justice center, county officials were told Tuesday.
The courts and sheriff’s operations need larger, more modern spaces, according to a spokesman for Carter Goble Lee, a firm that works in planning and design primarily of courthouses and detention centers.
A space shortage, security problems and a juvenile-detention center “that absolutely does not meet county needs” were among the issues cited by Alice Painter, an associate with the firm, at a meeting with county commissioners and other elected officials.
Federal funds were allocated more than two years ago to study juvenile-detention needs in the county. Officials later received approval from the Department of Justice to expand the scope of the review to include county courts, the sheriff’s office and jail operations.
The commission for years has looked at replacing the juvenile-detention center, a converted doctor’s office near the Jasper County Courts Building in Joplin.
“It is just not suitable for the needs there,” Painter said. “They have a good staff, but they don’t have the space they need for detention and especially for programs.”
Painter said a justice center serving the courts, Sheriff’s Department, jail and juvenile division would allow the county to combine programs currently housed in five different buildings.
“We know of programs where adult and juvenile detention are separate, but they’re in the same building and share kitchen and laundry facilities,” she said. “You’d be able to eliminate prisoner transportation, and you would be able to get some economy in court staffs that are now in two cities.”
Sheriff Archie Dunn said some counties offset local costs by housing federal prisoners, but the current jail usually is at capacity. In addition to a leased operations center southwest of Carthage, sheriff’s deputies are located at the jail and at the courts building in Joplin.
Painter said the goal is to produce a master plan with space recommendations to serve the county for the next 25 years. She said planners are gathering staffing and other information from the Sheriff’s Department and courts.
The completed report, she said, will include a recommendation for space needs, a proposal for reusing existing buildings and a preliminary cost.
John Bartosh, presiding commissioner, said it is too early for the county to make any decision on proposed recommendations, a possible building site or construction financing.
By the numbers
Data tracked by the state show that arrests in Jasper County increased to 12,061 in 2007 from 7,671 in 2002. The court caseload dropped slightly, to 16,587 in 2007, compared with 16,643 in 2002.
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