Newly renovated housing pod finished at Jasper County Jail

The renovations at the Jasper County Jail were recently completed and its new dormitory style housing pod is ready for use.

The new pod is designed to be more open and can hold up to eight inmates. Staff say the pod is for low-risk offenders who can be housed together since the pod does not contain cells. It has beds and other amenities but no way to solely house a single inmate alone like in a cell.

“(It) expands our housing. We went from 84 permanent to 92 permanent beds. With us holding Warren County’s (inmates) also, it just gives us more housing options,” chief jailer Wendy Hecox said.

Hecox said the regulations jails must follow pertaining to the housing of certain inmates and the new pod will give them more options and flexibility with who they can house and where.

“The more housing options we have, the better off we are,” Hecox said.

Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty said the room the pod is in has been in the building since it was completed in 2006. The pod was just never finished, so the sheriff’s office decided to bring it up to the Jasper County Board of Supervisors and turn it into a more useful space.

“We took advantage of an opportunity because we were bringing in revenue,” Halferty said.

Offenders housed in an open-floor plan, dormitory pod would typically be the kind of low-risk inmates that come into the jail, Hecox said.

“If we have someone you know is in a wheelchair, they can be in here because there is wheelchair access and that keeps them away from some of the more violent offenders,” Hecox said.

Halferty added, “These would be potentially misdemeanor or sentenced inmates who are just here doing time ... We are going to put low-risk offenders in here primarily.”

The Newton Daily News previously reported the board of supervisors approved the more than $130,000 project in September of 2018. The construction began in February and was completed in July.

Halferty said the renovated pod completes the jail’s pod system. He added the system was not completed for 13 years. Now that it’s done the Jasper County Jail has new options moving forward.

“It allows us housing options and also an opportunity to continue to bring in revenue for the county, unexpected revenue,” Halferty said.

Hecox said the new pod will help alleviate some of the issues the jail staff can run into, such as bringing co-defendants to the facility.

“You can’t house them together because they are co-defendants, so you wind up putting one in each cell and that’s why having the option to put somebody in here that we wouldn’t have had before can work out really well,” Hecox said.

Halferty is happy the jail pod renovations are finally complete and looks forward to the benefits the extra space can bring to the county.

“We have completed a long-term goal of finishing the pod, providing housing options and taking advantage of an opportunity to bring in some unexpected revenue for the county,” Halferty said.

Contact Dustin Teays at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or dteays@newtondailynews.com