(Fond du Lac) Fond du Lac County Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt says their aging Jail is at capacity and state inspectors are urging the county to do something about the jail or risk having its inmates sent elsewhere at the County’s expense.
The County Board last week approved a Jail Ad Hoc Committee and the County has land adjacent to the County Highway Department in Fond du Lac for the site of a new jail. Waldschmidt says the current jail is landlocked and since the original one constructed was in 1956 there have been additions or improvements made in 1984, 1994, and the latest in 2006.
He says county leaders knew in 2006 that the fix they made at that time would only last about 20 years. Waldschmidt says it’s an aging facility they can no longer take a “band-aid” approach to.
He says at the time of the last improvement they were getting revenue for housing 75 to 100 inmates from the state, but that is no longer the case. A consulting firm was hired to go over what they need.
Waldschmidt says when they do build a new jail it will have to be something the County can depend on for the next 50 years or more.
