Moscow officials angry with county over jail problems

MOSCOW — The Moscow City Council expressed frustration with Latah County leadership Monday over the recent news that the county jail may be at risk of closing.

“I think this is bad leadership that we’re seeing from the county,” said Councilor Drew Davis.

Problems that were identified in a recent Moscow Volunteer Fire Department inspection of the jail triggered an Oct. 8 county meeting where Latah County Sheriff’s Office officials spoke to the Latah County Commissioners about the future of the 51-year-old jail.

Sheriff Richard Skiles and Chief Deputy Tim Besst told the commissioners the county faces the expensive choice of fixing the jail to keep it up to code, or build a new facility. If the jail has to close for these reasons, inmates would have to be transported to another jail facility during construction.

Moscow City Supervisor Bill Belknap told the City Council on Monday that the sheriff’s office is working with Nez Perce County Detention Center on a contract to book inmates in the Lewiston facility if that need arises.

This concerns the Moscow Police Department, whose officers would likely have to travel two hours round trip to Lewiston and back every time it transports and books a prisoner in jail, Belknap said. Latah County Sheriff’s Deputies would also face the same problem.

This would leave an already short-staffed Moscow Police Department with fewer officers on duty patrolling the city. Belknap said sometimes there are only three officers on a shift, and the city faces public safety risks if it loses one of those officers every time an inmate needs to be transported to Lewiston.

Belknap said Moscow police make approximately 250 arrests per year.

Belknap said Moscow Police Chief Anthony Dahlinger estimates transporting inmates to Nez Perce County would cost an extra $30,000 a year.

Belknap said the long-term solution is to increase staffing so there are always four to five officers on a shift, which would cost the city approximately $375,000 per year.

Moscow officials may consider providing financial assistance to keep the Latah County Jail open to avoid this dilemma, Belknap said.

City councilors expressed their anger regarding misleading information coming from the county.

According to information provided by Belknap, the scope of problems found during the fire inspection was not as extensive as the sheriff’s office made it seem during the Oct. 8 meeting.

For example, the county commissioners were told that multiple jail gates need to be widened to meet fire egress requirements, at a cost of $100,000 per gate.

However, Belknap said Tuesday none of the gates are required to be modified because they are original parts of the building. Belknap said he understood how the wording in the jail inspection could have been misconstrued, but the city tried to “go out of our way” before and after the Oct. 8 meeting to clarify that the jail cells do not need to be altered.

“They continued to seem to be under the belief that we were requiring modification of the individual jail cells,” Belknap said, referring to county officials.

The other significant fire-related issues highlighted by Belknap were the smoke detectors, which need to be replaced, and the sprinkler heads in four holding cells that also need to be replaced.

Belknap said the Idaho State Fire Marshall used to perform jail inspections until recently, and that is why the county requested the Moscow Volunteer Fire Department to perform this year’s inspection.

Belknap said the state jail inspection in 2022 found no state violations.

Councilor Hailey Lewis said that given this information from the Moscow Volunteer Fire Department, closing the jail should not be on the table. She expressed frustration with the “finger-pointing aspect of it.”

“I take issue with what seemed to be a complete cop out … claiming that the city is telling the county that the jail has to close,” Lewis said, later adding that the problems identified by the city can be remedied.

Davis accused the county of “fabricating and making up things” and using the city to justify why the jail may need to close.

“That’s wrong,” he said. “Flat out wrong, period.”

Councilor Julia Parker said that since Latah County is required to provide the jail, Moscow should look at ways to share the cost of transporting inmates to Lewiston with the county, if it comes to that.

City Councilor Gina Taruscio suggested inviting the county to take part in a public meeting with the city council to talk the issue out.

Belknap said the city should encourage the county to keep the jail open at least in the short-term while it works on a long-term solution.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.