Kansas City-area officials are considering building a new jail to serve to prison needs of the area, not just one individual city. This is an excellent idea that would serve KC well. Jails are one area where regionalism, cooperation and privatizsation have been used succesfully in the St. Louia-area. The Buzz Westfall Justice Center was built by St. Louis County, after a succesfull bond vote, in the mid-1990’s. While it is owned and operated by St. Louis County, the 91 municipalities in the County use it to house their prisoners, too. Space has also been rented out to other entities – the City housed inmates there during the recent construction the City’s own, new jail a few years ago. While the jail itself is operated by the County, parts of its work have been privatized after competitive bidding, primarily the pharmacy department used to serve the (legal) drug needs of the prisoners.
The City of St. Louis has long used its City Workhouse to house prisoners from other cities and counties. This medium security facility has for a long time served the public safety needs of the City, other municipalities and counties, and made money for the City of St. Louis at the same time. If Kansas City goes ahead with a regional jail, am I sure they will find it to be a great decision for the KC area. It will both improve public safety and save money in the long run. Not much to complain about there…
