BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON -- Officials in Butler County are singing the overcrowded jail blues again -- and the tune is not expected to change any time soon.
For the second time this month, an influx of several dozen prisoners on Wednesday forced the jail to convert its garage to a makeshift holding area, with crude cots serving as beds.
"We've held it together doing every possible thing we can do, and as we told the (county) commissioners: "Now we're done.' We just can't do any more," said Capt. Charlie Profitt, county jail warden.
He said he's beginning to worry that state authorities could step in because the jail can't meet certain requirements, such as for church services and recreation programs.
"It's just a mess," he said. "And there's only one solution: We need more space."
The jail, which was built in 1970 to hold 80 prisoners, held 203 on Wednesday, following a crackdown on child-support scofflaws. On Aug. 5, the jail overflowed into the garage after Middletown police arrested 20 people on drug-trafficking charges.
Wednesday's overflow hit even before a jail study group, which is to be headed by County Commissioner Michael A. Fox, got a chance to meet, a sheriff's secretary said.
Mr. Fox, who couldn't be reached Wednesday, said in an interview last week that he is confident a new jail can be built "for at least half of what we asked the voters for last time."
In November, voters defeated a half-cent-on-a-dollar sales tax increase that would have been used to build a $34 million jail. Mr. Fox said innovations in jail design can help cut costs. He also said he would suggest locating the jail on a "brownfield" former industrial site so the property could be acquired inexpensively. Mr. Fox, a Republican, said partisan politics interfered with the jail issue last time.
He called for Republicans and Democrats to set political differences aside to work together on the jail problem because, "Criminals do not carry voter registration lists when they go to mug somebody. This is not a partisan issue."
Attempts to reach Sheriff Harold Don Gabbard were unsuccessful. Wednesday's child-support roundup, held as part of Child Support Awareness Month, snared 23 parents who have failed to pay child support.
Some were arrested in Hamilton County with help from that county's deputies.
Dozens of other people are wanted on Butler County warrants for non-support.
Some are expected to begin turning themselves in as they feel the pressure of knowing authorities are looking for them, said Chief Deputy Richard K. Jones.
