Marathon County Courthouse. MWC file photo.
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Marathon County Jail Administrator Sandy La Du briefed the Public Safety Committee on Wednesday regarding the results of the facility’s latest Department of Corrections inspection.
“One of my goals since taking over [in 2013] was to really work on correcting deficiencies,” said La Du. “Move the jail into more offensive light when it came to daily operations versus defense, trying to play catch up.”
She says despite the complications of the COVID-19 pandemic they were able to update or change operation procedures, which have put the jail in better standing with the DOC. But they aren’t done making improvements to operations. La Du adds that what’s most important to her is not what has been done at the jail, but what crews plan to achieve in the next few years.
Among the areas that need improvement are the implementation of a pre-trial preparation program, the hiring of additional correctional officers, the addition of scanning cards for inmate identification, and the repurposing of an old locker room into either a laundry room or a larger property room. La Du says many of those things are also on her list of goals, but due to the conditions encountered during the last two years with the pandemic, those have become longer-term goals.
“Those are pretty lofty and expensive and have been inhabited by COVID. We are hoping that will be a long-term initiative, but other than that we are on our way in every other aspect,” said La Du.
You can see the entire report for yourself as part of Wednesday’s agenda packet by clicking here.
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