An agreement has been approved to house Great Lakes Naval Station prisoners in the McHenry County Jail following severe staffing issues at the Lake County Jail where the prisoners are currently held.
A resolution authorizing an intergovernmental agreement between McHenry County and Naval Station Great Lakes was passed during the McHenry County Board’s Law and Government/Liquor Committee meeting Tuesday morning.
NAVSTA Great Lakes lacks in-house equipment and personnel to provide pre-trial and post-trial confinement services, according to the resolution.
The McHenry County Jail, which has extra capacity to house inmates, will provide housing for NAVSTA Great Lakes prisoners for $95 per day per prisoner. The total cost per year will not exceed $1 million.
The county jail previously provided the service. NAVSTA Great Lakes currently contracts with the Lake County Jail for the service.
McHenry County Sheriff Robb Tadelman said the Naval Station will be responsible for transporting the prisoners back and forth from the county’s jail.
Tadelman said they are not expecting a lot of prisoners from the agreement. “But it gives us the opportunity just to build a relationship,” he said.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that his office in late fall notified the U.S. Navy that they would not be able to renew their contract due to the staffing crisis at the Lake County Jail.
“We did inform them that we would continue to house until they could find another area jail that would be suitable for their needs, as we were not going to leave them high and dry,” Covelli said.
“They conducted their research and are entering into an agreement with the McHenry County Jail,” Covelli said.
Covelli said his office would be willing to work with the U.S. Navy again once the Lake County Jail’s staffing issue is rectified.
In January, the McHenry County Jail began housing 150 Lake County Jail inmates due to Lake County’s staffing issue.
“This transfer is necessary to alleviate safety concerns amid a staffing crisis at the Lake County Jail,” Covelli said at the time.
Due to employee vacancies, staff on leave for medical and family reasons and other absences, the Lake County Sheriff’s Corrections Division was down nearly 40% of its normal staffing levels as of January.
Corrections officers were being forced to monitor a higher number of inmates, leading to considerable safety issues, Covelli said.
Based on the staff-to-inmate ratio, Covelli said correctional officers could not adequately perform their duties to ensure both they and the inmates remain safe.
The agreement between Lake County and McHenry County, which is for one year but can be extended up to two years, requires Lake County to pay $100 per day per inmate housed at the McHenry County Jail.