Minimum security inmates spend their time playing cards, watching TV, or reading in one of the pods at the Ada County Jail in Boise, pictured here on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023.
Voters in Ada County failed to pass a $49 million bond to expand the jail.
The measure garnered 65.8% of the vote Tuesday, but it needed needed at least two-third majority of 66.7% to pass.
“At least we could see there’s public support,” Ada County Sheriff Matt Clifford said Wednesday morning. “It’s too bad that it came so close, but we’ll just have to figure out what the plan is here for the future.”
He said it’s possible the county will take the issue back to voters in another election, but that decision is up to the county commissioners.
In a joint statement posted to Facebook, the Ada County commissioners wrote that they are “in this for the long haul.”
“We look forward to working with the Ada County Sheriff’s Office to ensure that our focus remains the safety of all Ada County residents,” the statement said.
They also wrote that the narrow margin is “another indication that every single vote matters.”
Minimum security inmates spend their time playing cards, watching TV, or reading in one of the pods at the Ada County Jail in Boise, pictured here on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023.
Jake King/For The Idaho Press
Just after polls closed on Tuesday night, Ada County Commissioner Ryan Davidson underscored that it would be an uphill battle.
Do you LOVE local news? Get Local News Headlines in your inbox daily.
Thanks! You'll start receiving
the headlines tomorrow!
“Two-thirds is tough,” Davidson said. “And Ada County hasn’t done a bond in, like, 20 years or something. It’s been a long, long time. Ada County, I mean the school districts and all that, but Ada County government hasn’t done one, so it’s tough to have a historical perspective on it. I think people might have been soured on bonds since the West Ada school bond asked for way too much money, so we’ll see what the voters say and if they don’t support it, then we’ve got to look at some alternative plans for the future of inmates in Ada County.”
The last time Ada County voters approved a bond was in 1993, and it was for a previous jail expansion. The facility was built in 1978. Clifford previously told the Idaho Press that due to the rising population in Ada County, overcrowding has become a consistent issue despite alternative sentencing programs designed to keep lower-level offenders out of the facility.
Clifford said that the population growth has stretched the facility to its limits.
“It’s still a need, it doesn’t take away the need,” he said. “We’re already really doing everything we can.”
The expansion would have included 294 beds, a larger warehouse, upgraded kitchen, larger booking area and added space to the inmate transport center.
Clifford said that the county conducted a survey prior to the election weighing people’s support of the bond and found that the majority of people who opposed it were against it because they felt it would incentivize higher incarceration rates.
Clifford has said most of the jail’s population are there because of felony crimes, and people with misdemeanors are generally offered other programs such as the Community Transition Center and misdemeanor probation. As of Nov. 7, around 86% of the jail population had been charged with a felony.
Clifford said that if the county does go out for a bond again, that it’s promising the issue still had such strong support.
“We’ll just keep moving forward in the sheriff’s office, continuing to provide good service and doing what we can with what we have and finding a way to move forward into the future,” he said. “... we’ll see what the future brings.”
