Wood County Jail. Image courtesy: WAOW TV
WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI (WSAU-WAOW) – Wood County is getting a new jail for Christmas. Officials say it should be open sooner rather than later, likely in early 2024.
For the last two decades, the Wood County Jail has had to send inmates to other jails in Waupaca and Adams Counties due to issues with overcrowding. The new jail will elimate those expenses..
Wood County Sheriff Shawn Becker said, “Right now the cost to house 90 inmates out of county, just with employees transferring them back and forth from Wood County to Adams County, or Waupaca, it’s around $1.4 million dollars a year with what we’re paying.”
It’s not just the financial burden that’s being lifted, Reuben Van Tassel is the facilities manager for the Wood County Courthouse, and said it will make it safer for deputies. “We’ve got a much better space for intake and release, for housing in general. Safety was the biggest concern, the largest thing that was brought up during the jail study.”
Becker said that the new jail will also make life better for inmates, and give them a better chance to improve their lives. “The current jail has one library that inmates have to utilize for either church services, counseling, things like that, other programming partnerships that we have with Three Bridges Recovery, and Mid State Technical College.”
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