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| Unused Jail wing Considered for temporary homeless shelter |
| By madison.com |
| Published: 02/13/2012 |
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BARABOO — Sauk County officials will explore the possibility of using an empty jail wing as a temporary homeless shelter. That will be a topic of discussion at Tuesday's meeting of the Sauk County Board's Law Enforcement Committee. The item was put on the agenda at the request of Supervisor Peter Murray of Baraboo. "I'd rather feed and shelter people than incarcerate them," Murray said. "The first step is we need to find out if we can do it. Then, we need to figure out how we would go about it." Sauk County Sheriff Chip Meister said he was awaiting word from officials from the state Department of Corrections for guidance on Murray's request. Meister said it might be possible for the county to use the jail's Unit A as a homeless shelter, but it is not likely. "We'll see what the committee has to say about the idea," Meister said. The county houses its inmates in the jail's Unit B, which has 177 beds. Last week, that unit held 92 county inmates and 14 prisoners from outside agencies that rent beds, according to the county's website. Jail Unit A has 94 beds. The county hired the staff necessary to open the unit in 2008 to increase the jail's capacity to lease beds to outside agencies. The unit was closed in 2010 because of a shrinking pool of available renters. Murray said if DOC rules do not permit the use of jails as shelters, the county should determine whether transferred ownership of the unit from the sheriff's department to another county agency, such as the Human Services Department, would lift the restriction. The idea would be to allow the facility to be used as an overnight shelter for homeless men, Murray said, and have staff available to provide specialized training during the day. Though there are several regional shelters available for women and children, there are few options for homeless men. Shelters that house women and children typically do not allow men because of the potential for conflict. Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/crime_and_courts/unused-sauk-county-jail-wing-to-be-considered-for-temporary/article_c493c5a2-5642-11e1-8f61-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1mIA8EB2g Read More. |
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