Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkins says an analysis of options to upgrade the jail facility is nearly complete.
Last year, the jail addressed some of its exterior infrastructure issues and roof replacement work. But Watkins says they’re looking at more long-term needs.
“For the last six months, we've been working on a jail master study with a consultant, and that study is almost finished,” said Watkins. “It should be presented with the next month or two to our county board to give them options of what to do: Build a new jail, do an addition, or just revamp what we have.”
Watkins says revamping the current jail facility would entail some extensive overhauls.
“A lot of the infrastructure is all those type of things that are used 24/7, used and abused: HVAC, plumbing,” he said. “All the jail cells, retrofits – all those need to be taken out and put in new. So there's a lot of work that needs to be done.”
The master study is expected to include estimated costs for each option.
Meanwhile, Watkins says his office is still dealing with some significant staffing shortages.
“I'm only down three deputies, but our correction officers were still really struggling. I'm down 14 right now,” said Watkins, noting the jail would normally have around 60 officers on staff. “It's a tough job. It's shift work, so it's hard to find people right now.”
Watkins says the current detainee population of around 320 is slightly less than last year at this time, but about 40 more than at the end of 2023. He says they’re still adjusting to how the state’s pretrial detention law that took effect last September impacts the jail population.
“We didn't know what that looked like with no-cash bail, but we're seeing our violent offenders are being detained and they don't have a bond, so they're in our jail, most of the time, through their trial. But we are seeing our bookings are increasing,” said Watkins.
“What we're seeing is it's a 30-40% increase in property crimes – in our burglary to motor vehicles, criminal damage to property, fleeing and lootings are up – those minor ones that are very hard for a state's attorney to petition a judge to detain. They're getting out within a day or two, and then we're seeing them come out and reoffend again.”
