Story Photos

Inmates at the DeKalb County Jail socialize inside their cell block Friday afternoon. This cell block is one of eight designed for six to 10 people. When the blocks are full, inmates must be placed in holding cells or other areas not designed for habitation. KATE WEBER

Lt. Joyce Klein speaks to an inmate in a holding cell Friday afternoon at the DeKalb County Jail in Sycamore. The jail has four holding cells originally meant for short-term placement of inmates, but they are often used to house both males and females who are being difficult with their cellmates. KATE WEBER |

SYCAMORE - The visitors' room at the DeKalb County Jail isn't meant to be a holding cell.

It's where loved ones come to see inmates and talk over receivers while separated by a glass pane. The attorneys' room isn't supposed to be used that way either. The small round table and three chairs in the room are for lawyers to discuss cases with clients.

But when the jail has more inmates than it does beds, corrections deputies use the two rooms as holding cells.

“These rooms don't have a bath or toilet or running water,” said Lt. Joyce Klein, jail supervisor for the last 12 years. “It shouldn't be used as a holding cell, but it is. As a result, someone gets mad and starts banging. Where in a proper cell they'd only damage their hand, they break the window here.”

That happened Feb. 22. An inmate kicked and broke the glass doors of the visitors' room. Within a week, another inmate broke the glass doors of the attorneys' room.

Overcrowding at the 27-year-old facility at 150 N. Main St. in Sycamore is a constant problem, Klein said during a jail tour March 20.

Built in 1980, the roughly 16,000-square-foot jail was designed to last 20 years. In the late 1980s, a state jail inspector added 25 beds, bringing the total to 89.

In 2007, the jail's average daily inmate population was 102, down one from 103 in 2006, according to the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office.

Jails are designed to be at functional capacity when 80 percent full; that's considered the manageable level at which a jail can provide treatment programs and services and properly classify and house inmates, the sheriff's office said.

Functional capacity at the DeKalb County Jail is 72 inmates. It has been running past functional capacity for the last four years.

Issues amplified

Lack of space has multiple consequences, Klein said.

“Other jails with the space to do it will put all the newer people into one area,” Klein said. “They observe them for five, seven or even 30 days to get an idea of their behavior and better classify them. Here, we book them and in 20 minutes we have to decide where is most appropriate.”

Most appropriate often depends on what space is available, Klein said. Officers will add inmates according to their charges at first, keeping traffic offenders separate from violent offenders, and younger inmates separate from older ones. Shuffling of inmates once they are placed then depends on behavior, Klein said.

Stress is felt by officers and inmates alike. The immediate effect of an overcrowded facility is the need to transport some inmates to other jails. It takes deputies about four hours to prepare inmates for transfer, drive to the other facility, unload the inmates and return to DeKalb County, Klein said.

Before even getting into the transport van, personal items must be packed, followed by searches for contraband, Klein said. A check is made out for inmates to spend at the commissary - where they buy books and toiletries - then inmates are placed in shackles.

Boone County is one of the first places DeKalb County contacts when it needs help housing inmates. Boone County built an addition to its jail in 2002 to help with overflow from neighboring counties. It charges a flat rate of $50 per day to house out-of-area inmates, regardless of how many inmates are sent.

“Lately our local county population has been up, which has hampered us from taking some (inmates) from DeKalb, but it's not too much of an issue,” Boone County jail supervisor Lt. John Hare said Monday. “I'm hoping the space can last for at least five more years, but it depends on the local population.”

On March 18, DeKalb County was preparing for five inmates to be sent to Boone County - until deputies were told Boone couldn't receive them. The Ogle County Jail was able to take four inmates, but they could take only those already sentenced.

DeKalb County has spent more than $720,000 since 2004 to house inmates elsewhere because of overcrowding, according to the sheriff's office 2007 annual report.

“We try not to ship people with regular visitors, or those who are completing the GED program,” Klein said. “Behavior determines who goes. If they're on a serious charge and their date is coming up, then we'll try to keep them here. We want to facilitate them getting to trial and moving it along. But then who do we send, if those aren't the problem inmates?”

Care for inmates with mental issues is another problem amplified by the small space, Klein said. Evaluations can take six weeks to three months, though the inmates might later be institutionalized. During the window between a person's incarceration and his or her release to a mental health care facility, corrections deputies must care for the inmate as best as possible, Klein said.

About a month ago, a female inmate grabbed an officer by the throat and pulled her into a holding cell, Klein said. The inmate was sent to the Elgin Mental Health Clinic a week later, after having spent about a month in the jail.

Voted down

DeKalb County votes have twice denied referendums that would fund jail expansions. A 2005 effort was short a few hundred votes, but another attempt in 2006 was off by thousands, Klein said.

The earliest another jail referendum might appear on a ballot is 2010. DeKalb County Board member Richard Osborne, D-DeKalb, who chairs the law and justice committee, said the biggest obstacle toward expansion is voters' lack of willingness to believe the need.

“People understand it, it just seems people aren't willing to pay for it and I don't understand why,” Osborne said. “Issues such as the risks of a full jail and costs to send people elsewhere are all out there. Everybody involved put so much into it last time and saw the result get even worse.”

A crowded jail also means staff can offer fewer programs to keep inmates occupied and to encourage them to change behaviors that cause recidivism, Klein said.

Inmates can join GED classes that meet twice a week. Group counseling has been offered for 20 years, Klein said, and for the past decade, one-on-one counseling has coincided with Bible study, which is led by Chaplain William Lee. Group Bible study and Alcoholics Anonymous have been in the jail for more than 30 years, Klein said.

A multipurpose room with a library, TVs and table-tennis equipment are used for programs and for the state-mandated hour inmates are to be outside the cell blocks. Work-release programs and reading courses are also offered.

“Residents have asked and looked at other counties and suggested more programs, but I can't even look at it right now,” Klein said. “I don't have time and space or staff to do it.”

In the midst of size constraints, technological advances have been added in the jail to abate some of the stress on corrections officers.

Since 1997, video arraignment has allowed inmates to attend some court hearings without physically moving to the county courthouse across State Street.

“Any time inmates are going outside, there's a risk of escape,” Deputy Pete Hove said.

The addition of the command center in 2005 now allows deputies to use touch screens to control remote doors and monitor the entire jail through a system of video cameras with audio.

Hove often mans the command center during the day shift - described by Hove and Klein as the busiest because of the number of people visiting inmates or helping with programming.

Cramped quarters

An obvious example of crowding at the jail is the small medical room. The closet-size space is between the laundry room and the locker room, where inmates' personal items are stored.

A few cabinets with supplies, a scale and a sink make up the medical room. When patients are seen by jail nurse Linda Johnson-LaRoche, laundry must wait, as only a steel gate stands between the two rooms.

“I have to ask (inmates doing laundry) to leave the area because it may be too private of an exam,” Johnson-LaRoche said. “We've adapted well, but it's not working any more. If someone is being released or brought in, I might have to stop what we're doing so they can get to the locker room.”

Deputies must also be on hand for medical exams, both in the medical room and outside to watch the inmates waiting to see the nurse.

Jerry Brooks has been incarcerated since August and has seen the effects of overcrowding.

“Some people aren't used to being around people as much, and then tempers flare,” Brooks said. “Being in a little cell every day - that alone could make somebody snap. The only thing you can do is realize you're in jail and that's where you're going to be until time is up.”

Keeping busy has helped Brooks get through his sentence, he said.

“I haven't been incarcerated anywhere else, but from what I know, this is a pretty good jail,” Brooks said. “You have to take it for what it is.”

By the numbers

102: The DeKalb County Jail's average daily inmate population in 2007.

89: Number of beds in the jail.

10: Housing areas: eight cell blocks built for six to 10 inmates each, and two dorm-style rooms for six to 13 inmates each. Dorm rooms are given to inmates who have shown good behavior. Four one-person holding cells are also used to house inmates.

80-90: The percentage, on average, of the jail's inmates who have been charged with violent, drug-related or sex offenses, since 2000.

3,180: People booked into the jail in 2007. The booking process involves taking photos and fingerprints and recording personal information, such as a person's medical and mental history. Processing takes 20 minutes to an hour per person.

22: Number of full-time corrections deputies assigned to the jail. Two are assigned to the courthouse full time, while one works in both the courthouse and the jail. Four sergeants and one lieutenant are assigned to the jail. Three to six deputies are on staff during the jail's three shifts, along with one sergeant per shift.

Source: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office