Local jail expansion fully funded

BONNEVILLE COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI) - The Bonneville County Sheriff's Office is preparing to expand the county jail, and the planned project is already fully funded.

"Our philosophy has been to try to find ways to save up or use other sources of funding so we don't have to use the property taxes," Bonneville District 1 Commissioner Roger Christensen said. "Some of the COVID relief money became available and one of the allowed uses was for jails. So we allocated../15 million of that for the jail expansion. Which means there will be no cost to the property tax payer."

Commissioner Christensen says the expansion is not only because of population growth, but also due to the changing problems of the area such as the growing threat of opioids and fentanyl pills in the community.

This week alone the sheriff's office seized 20,000 of those pills that were destined for our community.

According to Sheriff Hulse, local law enforcement needs a facility that allows them to handle those situations humanely. Officers are well aware what happens when issues like substance abuse and mental health aren't addressed.

"A lot of times we see that recidivist cycle right, where they come to jail on a on a minor crime and they get out of jail," Sheriff Hulse said. "We fully know that they're leaving going back into the community where they're going to be re-exposed to all these illicit drugs in the community if they come into our facility."

Now, the sheriff's office plans to break that cycle.

In addition to expanding the jail, the project will also include a major expansion of the jail's special housing unit.

It will allow the sheriff's office to focus on enforcing the law. While addressing mental health and medical needs and providing new programs for addiction recovery.

"if they come into our facility and we recognize that they have a substance use disorder. When we recognize that, we're trying to connect them with providers in the community so that they get a relationship there," Sheriff Hulse said. "They can actually receive treatment while they're in our jail facility through that provider. And then when they get out, they're already on a treatment path."

Construction is scheduled to begin in May.