The escape of Jason Patrick Tope from the Freeborn County Jail crystallized a problem the 27-year-old facility has been experiencing, and is another pressure on county officials to speed up the decision-making for a new courthouse.

Saturday, February 09, 2002

The escape of Jason Patrick Tope from the Freeborn County Jail crystallized a problem the 27-year-old facility has been experiencing, and is another pressure on county officials to speed up the decision-making for a new courthouse.

The sheriff’s office believes overpopulation and the outdated design of the jail contributed to the incident, which is the second escape in the last two years.

The jail has 38 beds for three levels or zones of security categories: maximum, medium and minimum, and a dormitory-style space for work-release inmates.

Tope was in one of two medium-security zones that consists of three solitary cells and a common space for dining and other activities.

Each cell and the entrance to the zone have locked doors.

Sheriff Don Nolander said, &uot;Tope should have been in a maximum-security zone, considering that he has crutches that can potentially be a weapon.&uot;

The entire maximum-security zone is caged – in fact these are the only bars in the whole jail – and the windows are outside the cage. There are six solitary cells in the cage, and the common room for the inmates is monitored with a video camera.

But the maximum security cells were full, according to Nolander. There were 46 inmates at the time of escape, which is over the jail’s capacity. The jail needed to install extra beds in the work-release zone.

The congestion makes it difficult not only to place inmates in proper categories but also to segregate a certain inmate from others, according to Nolander. Though the jail has 38 beds, the Minnesota Department of Correction has a guideline that an operational occupancy rate is 70 percent.

The overpopulation is not a new story.

A record shows that the jail has been constantly full in last couple of years. Last year between January and September, the average daily population was 37.511. The congestion was evident from July to September when the average exceeded 40.

Nolander also points out that the linear-style design of the current jail is inefficient.

In the linear design, the inmate zones are distributed along a corridor. To check the status of inmates, a jailer has to walk down the corridor, open the door for entering the zone, and look inside the cell through a small window.

&uot;It takes time to notice anything happening to inmates,&uot; Nolander said.

Some newer jails have a pod-style design in which the inmate zones are placed in a fan-shape, or circle, around a observing workstation. &uot;In this style, fewer jailers can oversee more inmates. It increases both efficiency and security,&uot; he said.

&uot;The overcrowded situation is a part of the reason we are considering a new courthouse, but it is not the entire reason,&uot; county board Chairman Dave Mullenbach said. &uot;We are already in the process. And we will keep going with or without this escape incident.&uot;