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Current Challenges and Future Solutions
When Kane County Adult Corrections (aka Kane County
Jail) opened at its present site at 777 E. Fabyan
Parkway, Geneva in 1975, it was built to house 102
prisoners. Almost immediately the jail was overcrowded -
too many inmates and not enough beds. Three additions
have been added over the past thirty years, yet as Kane
County continues to grow so does the number of people
who think they can beat the law!
In 2003 the researchers with the National Institute of
Corrections (in conjunction with the Department of
Justice) evaluated not only the Kane County Jail but
also the entire Kane County Judiciary process. What they
found were groups of extremely professional and deeply
motivated people throughout the judicial system who were
trying desperately to keep up with the growing number of
people processing through the system. Ultimately the
findings revealed that the thirty year-old jail needed
to be replaced! Not only was the building feeling its
age, the type of criminal the jail was designed for
thirty years ago was different from today’s.
No longer is the average inmate incarcerated for traffic
stops and DUIs, but for drive-by shootings, murder,
sexual assault, robbery, drug possession and dealing.
Gang members constitute a major number of those
incarcerated. These people present a unique challenge
while incarcerated.
Recognizing the problems of an overcrowded facility, the
Kane County Sheriff’s Department working in conjunction with
the Kane County Judiciary implemented several
alternative programs over the last decade to ease the
overcrowding. Yet while these programs help, the number
of criminals continues to grow.
The ultimate answer is a new facility to house the
burgeoning number of inmates. In 2004, the Kane County
Board established the
Criminal Justice Planning Steering Committee (CJPSC).
This committee would utilize all of the research gathered by
the consultants from the National Institute of
Corrections to guide them in their quest to resolve all
of the jail’s issues – an aging and crumbling building,
a building that despite three additions, is perpetually
overcrowded and an incarceration design that is
unsuitable for the type of criminal that walks through
its gates.
By the end of 2004 the CJPSC determined that a new jail
must be constructed. It will be placed on the Kane
County Judicial Center grounds. The new facility will be
designed as a ‘direct supervision’ jail that will allow
Corrections Officers to safely supervise the growing
number of violent criminals and be large enough to house
the growing number of inmates in 2005 and the projected
numbers for 2010 and beyond!
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