DeKalb County Jail has had no vacancies for almost six years now.

The overcrowding in the county jail has been a problem since 2002, due to growth in DeKalb County.

Roger Scott, DeKalb County sheriff, said the overcrowding issue is causing them to send inmates elsewhere.

“We are currently shipping out 15-20 prisoners a day to Boone County Jail and have been doing so for the last two-and-a-half years,” Scott said.

Boone County Jail had expanded its facility, making it possible to have DeKalb County inmates sent there, though not without its costs.

Sending inmates to another jail costs DeKalb County about $300,000 per year.

Scott said they tried to get an expansion to the DeKalb jail, but it has been denied.

“We don’t have a current plan as of now since the public has already voted twice against making changes to the jail,” he said.

Ray Bockman, DeKalb County administrator, said people voted against it because of taxes.
“People don’t like taxes and don’t favor having more,” he said.

Bockman is optimistic that the jail will see changes in the future.

“I expect someday people will realize how much money it costs sending prisoners to another jail,” he said.

Bockman also said people in DeKalb County will not like the fact that they are creating more jobs in Boone County by paying for inmates to be shipped through their taxes.

The crowded situation has also caused problems internally.

“Since we ran out of room in the jail cells we had to put some prisoners in the visitation area. However, there had been a few situations when inmates broke the windows in there,” Scott said.

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