Tuesday, August 21, 2012
The History of the McHenry County Jail Contract with ICE
From the minutes from the McHenry County Law and Justice Committee of May 7, 2012:
The following Committee members were present: Chairman Nick Provenzano; Randy Donley; Bob Nowak; John Jung and Sue Draffkorn. Jim Heisler arrived at 8:19a.m. Bob Bless was absent. Also in attendance: Ken Koehler, County Board Chairman; Peter Austin, County Administrator; John Labaj, Deputy County Administrator; Judge Michael Sullivan; Dan Wallis, Court Administration; Andy Zinke and Angela Wood-Zuzevich, Sheriff’s Department; Tom Sullivan, Tina Sheldon and Carol Weger, I.T.; Dave Christensen, EMA; Phil Dailing, Court Services; Mark Cook, Public Defender; Tiki Carlson, E-911; Bob Ivetic, Human Resources and Kathy Keefe, Circuit Clerk.
PRESENTATION
Jail Contract: Committee members were joined by Undersheriff Zinke and Ms. Wood-Zuzevich, to discuss how to move forward with the Federal Contract Jail Bed Rental program. Mr. Austin noted that he worked with Mr. Sarbaugh, Ms. Wood-Zuzevich and Undersheriff Zinke on this presentation to frame the discussion for today’s meeting.
Committee members were reminded that this program is identified as a part of the County Board’s 2012 Strategic Plan. The action needed for the plan is to develop an analysis of terms and conditions that need to be considered in a future contract, if we should do another contract again. Even though this is 2 ½ years away, this is not a small endeavor.
In 2002 Federal representatives approached McHenry County about formalizing a partnership that was already benefitting the County and themselves.
In 2003, they discussed the possibility of creating a long term relationship by completing the construction of the third floor of the jail for use as an anchor facility for ICE.
They wanted a 20 year deal, though this was reduced to 10 years.
This was not assumed to be a permanent ICE solution though it did solve McHenry County’s jail questions for the foreseeable future.
At that time, McHenry County was in the midst of two decades of explosive growth so there were legitimate concerns about jail space.
Most large counties in Illinois shared these concerns. McHenry County was provided with an answer to this problem by being offered $6.5 million dollars from the Federal Government to build out the jail.
The jail space issue was answered for the next two decades.
This required McHenry County to provide a minimum of 232 beds for ICE detainees. The County covered these costs with per diems.
The McHenry County Board had the courage and vision to enter into this agreement and has received approximately $65 million dollars in per diems from the Federal Government. So far this year the County has collected $4.9 million dollars so it looks like the County may collect $10 million from this year’s contract. This has been a significant and predictable revenue stream, on a monthly basis for the County.
The benefits to the County have been real. The cash flow has been significant. This has allowed them to add efficiencies, jobs, and assists the federal government in an extremely critical public safety capacity.
The County is applying for a new per diem though the County is currently at the highest per diem rate in the Midwest. The County would like a contract that includes language that would allow for inflationary adjustments.
Prior to March of 2002, the County received a per diem rate of $50 per day, that rate is now $85 per day.
If you add all the expenses together, you come up with a rate of $120 per day, though we don’t expect to get that rate.
We currently receive a higher rate because of the regional location of McHenry County. In the past there was a moratorium on any rate increases. They are now entertaining this request.
Committee members were asked what would be needed in order to entertain a mutually beneficial deal.
In order to entertain this possibility they need to know if the County needs more jail space. The County’s use of this space has flattened, unlike neighboring counties.
If the trend holds, we have the space.
It may be harder to answer this question in light of the closing of some of the Mental Health facilities in the State.
These closings will affect the County.
Does the County want to enter into another 10 year agreement?
If they do, what should the per diems be for 2015? Should there be an adjustment included in the per diem rates to address inflation?
If the County is guaranteeing a specific number of beds, can we stay at that?
Mr. Austin noted there are many questions that will need to be answered to find out if an additional contract is feasible. He questioned what tools should be used to make these decisions? Should a task force be formed? He stated that these questions will set the table for the incoming board.
Chairman Provenzano questioned Undersheriff Zinke who the “tenants” at the jail are.
He was informed that besides ICE and McHenry County detainees, they have inmates from
There are currently 290 contract inmates currently housed in the County. ICE has been above 232 for the past several years.
McHenry County trends are lower than trends seen in our surrounding Counties. As long as McHenry County has bed space available, they will try to fill the beds.
The cash flow from this program has been very helpful to McHenry County.
Mr. Austin reminded committee members that this is a complex issue and it warrants a lot of discussion. Right now the program is working well, but additional questions need to be answered before we can move this forward into the future.
Committee members asked if “ICE” has a plan in place for the future of this program. They noted that McHenry County would not have space indefinitely and questioned what their long term plans may be.
Chairman Koehler noted that if the County has a choice, ICE detainees are the preferable as they are most in jail addressing residential status issues where most of the detainees from Kane County are the worst type of inmates and are usually gang members. He stated that McHenry County has been fortunate as we don’t seem to have that element in McHenry County. He stated it would be a great study to find out why the surrounding Counties seem to be dealing with a different type of detainee.
The following Committee members were present: Chairman Nick Provenzano; Randy Donley; Bob Nowak; John Jung and Sue Draffkorn. Jim Heisler arrived at 8:19a.m. Bob Bless was absent. Also in attendance: Ken Koehler, County Board Chairman; Peter Austin, County Administrator; John Labaj, Deputy County Administrator; Judge Michael Sullivan; Dan Wallis, Court Administration; Andy Zinke and Angela Wood-Zuzevich, Sheriff’s Department; Tom Sullivan, Tina Sheldon and Carol Weger, I.T.; Dave Christensen, EMA; Phil Dailing, Court Services; Mark Cook, Public Defender; Tiki Carlson, E-911; Bob Ivetic, Human Resources and Kathy Keefe, Circuit Clerk.
PRESENTATION
Jail Contract: Committee members were joined by Undersheriff Zinke and Ms. Wood-Zuzevich, to discuss how to move forward with the Federal Contract Jail Bed Rental program. Mr. Austin noted that he worked with Mr. Sarbaugh, Ms. Wood-Zuzevich and Undersheriff Zinke on this presentation to frame the discussion for today’s meeting.
Committee members were reminded that this program is identified as a part of the County Board’s 2012 Strategic Plan. The action needed for the plan is to develop an analysis of terms and conditions that need to be considered in a future contract, if we should do another contract again. Even though this is 2 ½ years away, this is not a small endeavor.
In 2002 Federal representatives approached McHenry County about formalizing a partnership that was already benefitting the County and themselves.
In 2003, they discussed the possibility of creating a long term relationship by completing the construction of the third floor of the jail for use as an anchor facility for ICE.
They wanted a 20 year deal, though this was reduced to 10 years.
This was not assumed to be a permanent ICE solution though it did solve McHenry County’s jail questions for the foreseeable future.
At that time, McHenry County was in the midst of two decades of explosive growth so there were legitimate concerns about jail space.
Most large counties in Illinois shared these concerns. McHenry County was provided with an answer to this problem by being offered $6.5 million dollars from the Federal Government to build out the jail.
The jail space issue was answered for the next two decades.
This required McHenry County to provide a minimum of 232 beds for ICE detainees. The County covered these costs with per diems.
The McHenry County Board had the courage and vision to enter into this agreement and has received approximately $65 million dollars in per diems from the Federal Government. So far this year the County has collected $4.9 million dollars so it looks like the County may collect $10 million from this year’s contract. This has been a significant and predictable revenue stream, on a monthly basis for the County.
The benefits to the County have been real. The cash flow has been significant. This has allowed them to add efficiencies, jobs, and assists the federal government in an extremely critical public safety capacity.
The County is applying for a new per diem though the County is currently at the highest per diem rate in the Midwest. The County would like a contract that includes language that would allow for inflationary adjustments.
Prior to March of 2002, the County received a per diem rate of $50 per day, that rate is now $85 per day.
If you add all the expenses together, you come up with a rate of $120 per day, though we don’t expect to get that rate.
We currently receive a higher rate because of the regional location of McHenry County. In the past there was a moratorium on any rate increases. They are now entertaining this request.
Committee members were asked what would be needed in order to entertain a mutually beneficial deal.
In order to entertain this possibility they need to know if the County needs more jail space. The County’s use of this space has flattened, unlike neighboring counties.
If the trend holds, we have the space.
It may be harder to answer this question in light of the closing of some of the Mental Health facilities in the State.
These closings will affect the County.
Does the County want to enter into another 10 year agreement?
If they do, what should the per diems be for 2015? Should there be an adjustment included in the per diem rates to address inflation?
If the County is guaranteeing a specific number of beds, can we stay at that?
Mr. Austin noted there are many questions that will need to be answered to find out if an additional contract is feasible. He questioned what tools should be used to make these decisions? Should a task force be formed? He stated that these questions will set the table for the incoming board.
Chairman Provenzano questioned Undersheriff Zinke who the “tenants” at the jail are.
He was informed that besides ICE and McHenry County detainees, they have inmates from
- the US Marshall Service and
- the US Navy.
There are currently 290 contract inmates currently housed in the County. ICE has been above 232 for the past several years.
McHenry County trends are lower than trends seen in our surrounding Counties. As long as McHenry County has bed space available, they will try to fill the beds.
The cash flow from this program has been very helpful to McHenry County.
Mr. Austin reminded committee members that this is a complex issue and it warrants a lot of discussion. Right now the program is working well, but additional questions need to be answered before we can move this forward into the future.
Committee members asked if “ICE” has a plan in place for the future of this program. They noted that McHenry County would not have space indefinitely and questioned what their long term plans may be.
Chairman Koehler noted that if the County has a choice, ICE detainees are the preferable as they are most in jail addressing residential status issues where most of the detainees from Kane County are the worst type of inmates and are usually gang members. He stated that McHenry County has been fortunate as we don’t seem to have that element in McHenry County. He stated it would be a great study to find out why the surrounding Counties seem to be dealing with a different type of detainee.
# posted by Cal Skinner : 12:23 PM
