Jail in former downtown Warrensburg grocery store cramped, moldy; causes health problems for Johnson County deputies [The Daily Star-Journal, Warrensburg, Mo.]

July 20--WARRENSBURG -- A county jail tour drew shocked laughter and derisive remarks.

"This is filthy, man," visitor Bill Theiss said during the tour.

Sheriff Chuck Heiss answered, "And my staff works in here 24-7."

From the waiting room to the attic, and through the bowels between, Heiss showed problems in every part of the converted Safeway grocery store that serves as the jail.

Heiss told Theiss, Randy Longkraehr and Carl D. Kirts everyone entering the jail -- inmates checking in, delivery personnel, jail staff, inmates' guests and lawyers -- shares the same waiting room.

There is no public bathroom inside the facility, he said.

Past the front door, the tour group squeezed past a bucket of water to get to the jail control room. The bucket is under the space where a ceiling tile should have been in the 55-year-old building.

Looking around the cramped space between the monitoring station and the doors, where two people would have trouble walking abreast, Kirts asks about insuring the facility.

Heiss said the company that insures the jail insures all county buildings.

"The other insurance companies said, 'No, your jail is too big of a risk -- we're not going to insure you," he said.

Heiss brings the tour group to about a 12-by 12-foot space -- "If that," Heiss said -- that 13 deputies use as the patrol and briefing room.

"Ain't no way," Theiss said. "I'm glad I'm not claustrophobic."

Stopping at a wheelchair, Heiss states what narrow corridors and doorways make obvious: "We are not handicap-accessible."

Johnson County sends inmates with handicaps, as occurs with other inmates due to crowding, to other jails with better facilities. Those jails charge Johnson County about $45 per day per inmate.

The price covers a bed and food, but not transportation and medical care, Heiss said.

Through June 1, Heiss said, the cost of housing Johnson County inmates in Lafayette and Pettis counties reached $147,000. If the pace continues, Heiss said, the cost for the year could come to $300,000.

Heiss's solution is to buy and convert the former Integrity Correctional Center -- the private jail between Centerview and Holden that closed this year -- for use as the county jail.

If voters approve the Aug. 3 tax issue, the converted facility would offer 194 beds at a cost of $7 million. The facility would more than triple the present jail's capacity and would cost about one-third of the price to build the same facility from scratch. Other counties would be able to send their inmates to Johnson, Heiss said.

"We'll have ample space for ours and plus we'll have overflow space for others," he said.

But only if the quarter-cent sales tax issue passes. Voters rejected four previous jail tax issues, all of which cost more and would have produced a smaller county jail.

The tour stopped in the kitchen. Heiss said inmates help the lone staff cook. Heiss said all of the inmates' dirty laundry passes through the kitchen to reach the laundry space.

The tour wound through a corridor so narrow that inmates could reach out and grab passersby through the bars, though they remained docile in their quarters. Other cells have no bars -- only sheet metal doors.

The tour group next is assaulted by the overwhelming odor of mold .

"The mold is amazing," Heiss said. "Anybody who works in the facility all day suffers from sinus infections. ...

"There's no ventilation in here at all -- none."

Infections can become severe.

"My chief deputy is out ill right now with a chronic sinus infection," Heiss said.

Theiss looked into a "closet" filled with pipes and wondered how anyone could squeeze in to do repairs if a pipe broke. Heiss said plumbing problems plague the jail.

"The plumbing that we have in the facility -- we cannot find the fixtures anymore once they break," he said.

Breaks are not the only plumbing issue.

"If we have an inmate that plugs up a toilet, it shows up here," Heiss said, while standing inside the Missouri University Extension Office, which shares a wall with the jail.

After being inside the poorly lit jail for several minutes, the door opens to blinding summer sunshine in the inmate recreation area.

"There is not a single office in this building that has an outside window," Heiss said. "There's no natural light."

The recreation area offers high walls topped by razor wire. Deputies use a garage in the same area to store evidence, Heiss said.

Returning inside, Heiss took the group into a recreation room consisting of walls covered by peeling paint, a television with a single channel and a showerhead coming out of the wall.

"There is one shower in the facility," he said.

The slanting floor leading to the shower is slick and still wet. Non-slip paint on the floor has flaked away. Theiss looked closely at the showerhead.

"No, I don't want to try it," he said.

The tour continued into the attic. Boxes of records, and odds and ends occupy the space. The ceiling does not allow the men to stand upright.

"Every available square inch of space we've converted for some type of storage," Heiss said.

As the tour concluded with a look at deterioration involving walls outside the building, Heiss summed up negative opinions he heard during the tour about the jail.

"The general reaction the public would have if they came through here," Heiss said, "is the same one you had."

On Monday, Kirts said the county needs a new jail.

"I was opposed to it going into the tour and after looking at the whole thing, I agree he needs the change," he said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration would likely order "major corrective action" at the jail, Kirts said.

But Kirts said he is not convinced the public can afford to add a quarter cent to the sales tax, or that deputies should drive 14 miles from the county seat to the new jail.

Theiss said he took the tour to learn personally about the jail rather than hearing only what others say.

"Over the past four years I kept hearing all this stuff and I just wanted to know if Chuck was blowing smoke," Theiss said. "They've needed a new jail for years -- I have no doubt about that. But I was just shocked at what I saw. I didn't think it was quite that bad. I wouldn't want to work in there eight hours a day, let alone being stuck in their for six months to a year."

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