By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

On any given day, as many as 10 Ellis County inmates are being housed in jails outside the county in Rooks, Trego or Barton counties.

That still leaves as many as 42 inmates crammed into virtually every nook and cranny in the Ellis County jail -- an even dozen more than the jail was designed to hold.

Overcrowding at the Ellis County jail has become an everyday occurrence, an issue that only draws a wry, knowing smile from Ellis County Sheriff Ed Harbin.

He smiles because it's an issue he simply won't discuss.

What he will discuss, however, is the need for more jail space, what he knows will be an expensive -- but what he considers a necessary -- process for Ellis County.

There are at least two remodeling proposals on the table, one from the county's space needs committee and one drawn up after Ellis County agreed to swap the former Kansas Department of Transportation building at 22nd and Vine for the existing Commerce Bank building.

The space needs committee looked at the idea of remodeling the existing jail, using all of the upstairs area including a small expansion on the north side of the building and remodeling some of the first floor area to either give more room to the jail or prevent existing security flaws.

The cost would amount to about $5 million based on preliminary estimates already almost two years old.

The problem, however, is the most extensive option would only provide housing for up to 62 inmates.

Harbin and Ellis County Undersheriff Bruce Hertel believe they could fill the jail to capacity on the day it opens.

The second plan would effectively turn the Ellis County Courthouse into a judicial center, save for one basement hallway.

There are, however, problems with both scenarios and even bigger problems with the second plan, that of turning the existing office area into a jail, never mind the structural problems -- some might say the opportunities -- a limestone and cinder block building would present for prisoners loathe to remain in jail.

The plan also would require essentially doubling the jail workforce because of how the jail would be situated, on two floors.

There's also the unanswered question of what the Hays Police Department would think of having a jail right next door to its operations.

A third option has been suggested, that of a regional jail, with enough capacity to hold as many as 150 inmates, serving either the four-county 23rd Judicial District or an even larger part of northwest Kansas.

But it has gone no further than that.

All three will be expensive.

Overstretched

The problem overall has to do with an increasing number of people being held in the Ellis County jail.

Harbin and Hertel said the daily census is averaging about 50 inmates.

The jail, on the second floor of the LEC, however, was designed to only hold 30 inmates.

That's why neither Harbin nor Hertel will talk about the overcrowding issue, unspoken concerns they one day might face a federal lawsuit that could force them to either build a new facility or cast a wider net to find room to house the inmates they already have.

Those options are quickly shrinking, as other counties have seen their jails fill and also have been forced to start farming out inmates to area counties.

Harbin also lives in daily fear of the burdens being faced by jailers and the deputies -- many of whom are part-time -- recruited to transport prisoners to outlying jails.

As of November, for example, deputies traveled nearly 60,000 miles last year, transporting 157 Ellis County inmates to other county jails.

Ellis County paid more than $65,000 to house those inmates.

That doesn't include the wages of the deputy transporting the inmate or fuel costs. Harbin said the department just purchased a new van to replace one with 130,000 miles on it.

"That doesn't include the inmates that are transported in patrol cars," he said of the miles racked up by the department. "That van is getting up there. I don't want anyone stranded out on the road with a bunch of inmates."

The numbers are down slightly from 2010, when 176 inmates were sent out of county at a cost of more than $80,000.

The decline is due to Northwest Kansas Community Corrections supervising some inmates released on bond, the court's decision to set a bond schedule for some misdemeanor offenses and the city of Hays foregoing incarceration on some offenses, especially if they would have to bear the cost of transporting to other jails.

Harbin's had to hire seven part-time deputies to do most of the transporting and sometimes help out in the jail, although full-time deputies are frequently called on to help.

Jail staff works well

Even with special steps being taken, the inmate population continues to grow.

First opened in 1976, not all of the upper floor of the LEC was made into a jail. Instead, only about two-thirds was developed with special windows and a cross-hatch of bars to prevent escape.

The layout is less than ideal with some cells difficult to observe and a jail operations center little more than a wide hallway, with air conditioning only recently installed.

"We need to find more space," Harbin said flatly.

"I think it's awful sad when officers have to call in before they arrest someone to see if we have room," Hertel said.

Both men laud the work of the jailers.

"This jail staff is a very good staff," Harbin said, "because they work under the conditions they do and they still come back."

Not only do they deal with more than 30 different personalities on a daily basis, he said they do so with people who have nothing more than time on their hands.

There are altercations, not on a regular basis, Harbin said, but they do happen.

It's a struggle when special demands are put on jail personnel, such as in October when an inmate committed suicide.

"We were dealing with another suicidal inmate and taking care of business at the same time," Harbin said of a second inmate who was on the jail's suicide watch list.

"And during the commotion of the suicide, which was just a minute, the other inmate attempted suicide."

A regional facility

Hertel is a proponent of the 150-bed regional facility, mainly because the other scenarios don't solve the problem.

"We could fill it," Hertel said of the 62-bed remodeling project envisioned by the space needs committee.

"I'm sure the day we open it, we will be overcrowded," Harbin said.

Hertel thinks a regional facility -- while expensive -- could be used to house not only Ellis County prisoners, but those from elsewhere in northwest Kansas or for that matter counties across the state.

Even the 150-cell jail is an estimate, but one Hertel thinks would be big enough to handle needs now and for some time in the future.

"It's a guess," he said. "It's something that needs to be studied. It's a study that I think should be done."

If that would become reality, the existing jail then could be used as a holding facility for inmates as they go to court.

Both men have talked to Ellis County commissioners, but there's been no movement.

Part of the problem, Harbin said is the county commission must allocate the money to determine what the cost will be. Harbin said his budget doesn't include the money to conduct the study.

"My guess is it will total $15 million to $20 million," Harbin said. "It's an astronomical figure."

"We're hauling juveniles to Garden City, Hutchinson," Hertel said. "They're the closest place we can go. That's why I keep going back to the 150-bed facility out here."

The smaller project might work, but overcrowding won't go away, Harbin said.

"So you want to do it right," he said, "because it's going to last 20 to 30 years."

"It's time," Hertel said of deciding to take steps to solve the problem.

"It's getting dangerous for the inmates and the employees."