By Audrey Korte
The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls, Wisc.
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. — A recent state inspection found no violations at the Chippewa County Jail.
“Zero infractions is a big deal. That’s very hard to do,” Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office Jail Capt. James Maki said Tuesday. “Every year the jail is inspected by a state jail inspector. He comes in and goes through criteria of different things to make sure that we are meeting Department of Corrections standards.”
The Wisconsin Department of Corrections Office of Detention Facilities issued the report Monday based on an inspection from Office of Detention Facilities inspector Brad Hoover.
State law requires jails to be inspected annually. Everything is looked over with a fine-tooth comb — each drain, screw and lightbulb is inspected, Maki said. Every person working at the facility and each document concerning day-to-day operations is scrutinized. To have zero infractions found by the state matters a lot to Maki.
“This is actually, I believe, the seventh year in a row that Chippewa County has had zero infractions,” Maki said. “When it first happened, it was like this has never happened before. No jail gets zero infractions on their stuff. It’s been a big deal, and I think that we can attribute that to our staff here, which are very professional. We do hold them to a very high standard.”
The inspection compared the facility and its operations to 72 other county jails in Wisconsin. The Chippewa County Jail is about 60,000 square feet with three floors. Its maximum capacity is 198, according to jail staff.
On the day of the inspection, which took place Nov. 30 , there were 97 inmates on site.
Hoover reported he reviewed records and practices at the jail and held meetings with health care, administrative, security and food service staff. Part of the inspection process included a tour of the jail and assessment of its safety, sanitation and adequacy, dialogue with the jail staff and inmates and a review of facility records and documentation, according to the report issued by Hoover.
“There were no violations noted during this year’s inspection,” he said.
“The Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office takes great pride in our strive to provide the best public safety possible,” said Chippewa County Sheriff Travis Hakes . “The professionalism and teamwork displayed by our jail staff is a direct result in the day-to-day operations of our jail.”
Maki said he believes the jail is doing very well.
“We are very progressive in what we try to provide here. We do a lot of research — myself, my lieutenants, my sergeants,” Maki said.
The Chippewa County Jail is unique in that it has both law enforcement and non-law enforcement employees, Maki said.
“So some of our jails are law enforcement certified. Some of our jail staff is not law enforcement certified. That, I think, brings a lot of added benefits,” he said. “This is something that makes us good at what we do.”
Jail history
The Chippewa County Jail has undergone many changes over the years. The original jail was constructed along with a sheriff’s residence in 1949. That jail had a capacity of 18 secure inmates. The sheriff ceased residing in the residence in about 1979. The house was turned into offices for sheriff’s personnel and a dispatch center was built.
In 1985, a work release dormitory was added that increased the capacity of the jail to 42 inmates, according to the county jail website. In 1992, an addition was completed that raised the capacity of the jail to 79 inmates. In 2002, a large addition was completed that raised the capacity of the jail to 199 inmates. The addition included a complete kitchen facility.
The current jail has special needs housing areas on its second and third floors. The second floor has three rooms where education and religious classes can be held as well as seven video visiting booths for inmates to visit their families via camera.
The jail “receives prisoners on fresh arrests from all law enforcement agencies within the county. It also holds prisoners who are doing sentences as ordered by the circuit court. Such sentences typically can range from a few days up to one year in length,” the jail website states. “The jail must be able to deal with all types of people often under very difficult situations. Increasingly, many inmates have extensive medical and psychological needs, which must be met by the jail personnel.”
Maki wants to see the jail continue to make progress, he said.
“Right now I would say recruitment and retention is kind of a big deal. We want our staff to have the best work-life balance that they can possibly have. Right now there is a lot of overtime. We are four positions short right now out of 27 employees, and we have had a long time with that many openings,” Maki said.
Maki said there is one new staffer starting at the end of the month.
“But what we’re seeing is just there’s a lack of applicants that are applying for the positions as well as qualified applicants that are applying for the positions, and I think trying to get applicants in here to eliminate overtime for our staff is probably one of our biggest areas of concern right now,” he said. “However, we take great pride in our work. I’m very proud of what we do.”
___
(c)2024 The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls, Wisc.
Visit The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls, Wisc. at www.chippewa.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.