KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nearly four dozen Kansas City, Missouri, inmates could be transferred to the Jackson County Detention Center as early as Thursday, Sheriff Darryl Forte announced Monday.
Forte tweeted that the county reached an agreement with the city to accept up to 45 city inmates at the Jackson County jail.
We have reached an agreement to accept up to 45 City inmates for housing in the Jackson County Detention Center. Inmates could be moved into the jail as early as Thursday of this week. @JacksonCountyMO @JCSheriffOffice @KCMO pic.twitter.com/Cb1gYJpdBJ
— Darryl Forte' (@sheriffforte) December 16, 2019
The Kansas City Police Department said the city inmates being transferred to the county jail will be those convicted in municipal court of city violations, such as DUI or shoplifting, not felony charges.
The city stopped sending inmates to the county jail in June after stalled negotiations over contracted costs. This fall, city and county officials said they were nearing a deal that would allow the city to resume sending around 100 inmates to the jail.
City inmates were being housed at the Heartland Center for Behavioral Change, a substance abuse treatment facility, until it lost two insurance policies to house inmates earlier this month. Heartland’s president told 41 Action News in September that the facility was not prepared to house city inmates.
When doubling as a jail, the facility dealt with several escapes, an assault of an inmate by other inmates and one death.
Last week, the Jackson County Legislature awarded a $1.3 million contract to JCDC Partners LLC to oversee the development of a new jail. The Jackson County Detention Center has been plagued by violence, overcrowding and other issues.
