A bond referendum is on the ballot for Greene County voters to consider whether or not to build a new county jail.

Greene County Attorney Thomas Laehn is in favor of a new jail as he continues to use it as a strategy when prosecuting criminal cases in court, which he believes can serve as more of a deterrent than sentencing a criminal to state prison.

“Indeed, a six month jail sentence will actually result in a person spending more time behind bars than a five year prison sentence, because we don’t have parole from a county jail. Six months in jail is six months in jail whereas five years in prison often means four months in prison.”     

Laehn points out state prisons are overcrowded and he says judges are more reluctant to send a criminal to prison for that reason. Laehn describes the situation the current Greene County Jail facility has with it only being an eight-cell jail.

“We have more than 100 convicted criminal offenders who have been sentenced to jail but are unable to serve their jail sentence because we don’t have room for them in our jail.” 

Lahen notes the backlog of jail sentences stretches to six years. He explains that this is an unsustainable practice that will either need to be corrected through building a new jail or if the state shuts down the current facility because it has been out of compliance with state code for so long, more inmates will be transported to other county jails, costing county taxpayers even more money. 

Laehn adds the repeat offenders in the county are down over 50-percent from when he was elected as county attorney four years ago and one of those strategies that supports that result is through sentencing criminals to serve jail time. 

The $12,685,000 bond referendum is for a 20-cell facility with all expenses calculated for the 11-acre jail to be located just south of the law enforcement center administrative building on East Lincoln Way in Jefferson. The measure is on the ballot for the November 8th election.