The Jackson County Sheriff's Office will close its jail basement in July, reducing jail capacity by about 20%, or 60 beds.
Sheriff Nate Sickler said the cuts are necessary as law enforcement costs, including labor and inmate medical care, continue to outpace revenue.
“There's really no way forward,” Sickler said. “This is not a trend that I think is reversible, just from the way that the county government is set up.”
The sheriff’s office receives most of its funding from the county’s general fund. Closing the 60 jail beds will save the department about $1.5 million, the sheriff said.
Sicker said closing the basement is the only way to prevent a reduction in services for patrol and investigations. Still, he said the reduction in jail capacity will affect public safety.
“We will definitely see a negative impact, I believe, just based on our previous closures of the basement,” he said.
The sheriff’s office has closed the jail basement three times in a little more than a decade. Sickler said some people may be more likely to ignore court dates when they know jail space is scarce.
“They tend to take advantage and be a little bit more brazen,” he said.
Sickler said the county recently had to switch providers for inmate medical care, which doubled the cost. This year the county also settled a $1.3 million excessive force lawsuit filed by an inmate.
In 2020, more than 70% of voters rejected a tax measure to help fund a jail expansion. Since then, residents appear split on the issue. A 2024 survey in Jackson County showed 43% supported creating a law enforcement levy of $1.57 per $1,000 of assessed property.
Sickler said a ballot measure would likely be considered again in the future.
“It's probably the only way that we're going to be able to ever afford to increase service levels in our county,” he said. "But when the time is right, of course, because we don't need to do it just for it to fail.”
