BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
INDEPENDENCE -- Since January 1990, the Kenton County Jail population has increased by at least 40 percent, a number the jailer thinks should add up to a new jail.
County figures released Tuesday show that the average overnight prisoner count rose from 226 in January 1990 to 323 in July 1998, or a jump of nearly 43 percent. During the same period, the average 24-hour prisoner count rose from 251 to 352, or a hike of about 40 percent.
Those increases would be even higher had Kenton County not begun working aggressively with circuit court judges and state corrections officials this year to reduce its jail population, Jailer Don Younger said.
"Since January, we've really been working hard to keep that count down," Mr. Younger said. "But as new laws keep getting passed that require more inmates to do more time, the problem is only going to continue."
Inmates in the Kenton County Jail, which has a capacity of 262, have filed a federal lawsuit, claiming the crowded conditions violate their constitutional rights.
It is because of those crowded conditions and the high costs of running the multistory jail in Covington that county officials say a new jail is needed.
"The bottom line is, we want to have a more secure facility, a more cost-effective facility, and keep from spending our taxpayers' money on lawsuits," Mr. Younger said.
On Tuesday, Kenton Judge-executive Rodney "Biz" Cain told critics of a leading jail site on Webster Road in Independence that Kenton County and Covington staff are continuing to discuss possible jail sites in Covington, but have not come up with any serious contenders. Mr. Cain said the county soon hopes to release statistics showing which Kenton County police agencies are booking the most prisoners and which departments have experienced the largest increases. The county is compiling figures to determine where its prisoners are coming from today and where they are likely to come from in the future as jail sites are considered.
While figures on individual departments' bookings are not yet available, county staff did release jail population figures Tuesday.
Those figures show that from January 1990 to January 1998, average overnight prisoner counts rose 54 percent, or from 226 to 349.
Overnight prisoner counts have dropped slightly since January of this year because of a number of changes, Mr. Younger said.
Circuit court judges have agreed to release some prisoners earlier, and state corrections officials have removed some of their prisoners from the county jail quicker than they had in the past, Mr. Younger said.
