Beyond opposition by a well-organized and dedicated group of critics, Washington County officials pushing for expansion of the county jail face another challenger: time.
The sheriff -- first Tim Helder and now Jay Cantrell -- have said for years that the demand for space to hold the people brought to the jail by every law enforcement agency in Washington County long ago exceeded the current jail's capacity to house them. Even with more efforts in recent years than ever before to expedite the release of hand-selected and judge/prosecutor approved detainees, the practice of inmates sleeping on pads on the floor has lingered.
The long process of building support, fending off opposition and creating designs for jail expansion comes at a cost, and we're not just talking about the millions of dollars necessary for any large-scale public project. Time, indeed, costs money.
Sheriff Cantrell recently announced the expansion plans will be scaled back after bids on the project came in about $6.8 million more than the county has budgeted.
With $19.8 million appropriated by the Washington County Quorum Court, the sheriff's office now has to go back to their spreadsheets after contractor bids totaled $26.6 million.
Cantrell said there's a building in the project that would have provided about 96 beds that would allow jailers to better isolate and quarantine male inmates as needed for medical or other reasons. It's estimated to cost $7 million, making it an easy target to bring the plans closer to the budgeted money.
The shrinking size of the project reflects how time alone can erode the county's capacity to meet growing demands for space. More people come to Northwest Arkansas every day. More people means so many positive things, but the growth also puts a strain existing city, county and state resources. For example, consider the amount of traffic in the region. Government officials devote considerable time and resources to managing traffic, promoting public transit and trying to design cities in ways that reduce the number of trips necessary each day.
But does that negate the need for expanding roads or improving intersections? Can construction crews stop pouring concrete? Not that we've seen, and not that any drivers want. And anytime a needed project is delayed, local officials know it will cost more money when it eventually gets built.
It's not a binary choice to either build a larger jail or develop alternatives to jail. All approaches must be part of Washington County's -- any county's -- public safety plan. And once county officials manage to expand the jail, it's vital that they follow through on the necessity of further developing alternatives, whether that's more sentencing options, treatment programs and post-release rehabilitation services.
Failure to recognize the need for an all-of-the-above approach in the judicial system is a failure to adequately address public safety for Northwest Arkansas.