{"id":7489,"date":"2025-03-31T20:20:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T20:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7489"},"modified":"2025-03-31T20:20:39","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T20:20:39","slug":"bureau-county-board-tables-inmate-deal-with-cook-county-jail-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7489","title":{"rendered":"Bureau County Board tables inmate deal with Cook County Jail – Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"


Bureau County Sheriff Jim Reed listens Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, during a meeting of the Bureau County Board. The board, partly at Reed\u2019s urging, tabled an intergovernmental agreement with Cook County for overflow inmates to be housed in Bureau County Jail. Though Reed said there was \u201cmisinformation\u201d about the agreement, he recommended the board study it in more detail. <\/span>(Tom Collins)
Bureau County<\/a> Jail may yet house overflow inmates from Chicago, but the Bureau County Board tabled the proposal for additional study and discussion.
The County Board was scheduled to vote Tuesday on an intergovernmental agreement to hold inmates from the Cook County Jail at a rate of $65 per day.
Sheriff Jim Reed said, however, he recommended the board postpone final action to study the issue more closely \u2013 and to sift through social media feedback that Reed said was misguided and inaccurate.
\u201cTo put it bluntly, we don\u2019t want them here.\u201d
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of false misinformation about this,\u201d Reed said, urging the board to send the proposal to committee.
It was tabled by a roll call vote of 11-3. Those who voted no \u2013 Republicans Sandy Hoos, Marsha Lilley and August Block \u2013 signaled they were ready to kill the intergovernmental agreement. With the measure tabled, discussion resumes at a committee meeting at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 5.
Jim Reed speaks <\/span>Bureau County Sheriff Jim Reed discusses why he urged the Bureau County Board to table action on the jail accepting inmate transfers from Cook County. <\/span>(Tom Collins)
Besides bringing in revenue, Reed said additional inmates would be welcome because the Bureau County Jail needs to be occupied and used lest it fall into disrepair. Similarly, the county has entered into food and service contracts and risks losing money by not keeping the daily census afloat.
Leasing overflow space to overcrowded jails is an arrangement that has worked for La Salle County<\/a>. Jason Edgcomb, superintendent of La Salle County Jail, said intergovernmental agreements with other counties have generated needed revenue. Cook County alone brings in about $15,000 a month.
The out-of-towners haven\u2019t created issues for corrections officers. Most, Edgcomb said, are glad to be out of inner-city lockup and \u201cthey don\u2019t give us any problems.\u201d
Such arguments fell flat with the residents who rose to speak during the public comment period who expressed concerns or flat-out opposed it.
\u201cI think it is a terrible idea with far-reaching, negative consequences,\u201d said Amy Thompson, who said she foresaw numerous problems including criminals released into the local community. She added later, \u201cTo put it bluntly, we don\u2019t want them here.\u201d
Mary Lynn May said she wanted assurances that Cook County would fetch and remove discharged inmates upon release. She also wanted clarification on where the new revenue would go.
\u201cI myself do not see an upside in any of this,\u201d Terry Smallwood said. \u201cI have a lot more questions than answers.\u201d
\u201cMy question is,\u201d said Janet Day, \u201cis the continued viability and safety of our community at risk?\u201d
Hoos said her constituents were overwhelmingly opposed to the proposal and, \u201cWe know for every one complaint there\u2019s probably 15 others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network<\/p>\n

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Bureau County Sheriff Jim Reed listens Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, during a meeting of the Bureau County Board. The board, partly at Reed\u2019s urging, tabled an intergovernmental agreement with Cook County for overflow inmates to be housed in Bureau County Jail. Though Reed said there was \u201cmisinformation\u201d about the agreement, he recommended the board study it in more detail. (Tom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t