‘Playing Tetris’ with inmates: What’s next after Ada County jail bond’s defeat

After the failure of a $49 million bond to expand the Ada County jail, Sheriff Matt Clifford said they will “keep playing Tetris with inmates.”

The bond, which fell just short of the necessary two-thirds supermajority, would have allowed the county to expand the existing jail to add capacity for more people, including more beds, expanding the kitchen and warehouse space, Clifford said.

“Not getting the bond doesn’t eliminate the need, so we’ll have to figure something out,” Clifford said by phone Wednesday.

In Idaho, bonds require a supermajority of voters to approve them in order to pass. A supermajority is two-thirds of the vote, or 66.7%. Ada County’s jail bond received 65.8% of the vote.

The other solutions are not immediately clear, he said. Clifford said he plans to meet with the county commissioners to discuss their options.

The solutions “on the table,” he said, are coming up with another funding mechanism than a bond to fund the jail expansion, or rerunning a bond in a future election.

“The commissioners make those decisions, but we’ll probably regroup and I’ll address the need with them again and see what their willingness is, or if they have a different idea for a different route,” Clifford said.

In Canyon County, voters rejected four efforts from the county commissioners to pass a bond to build a new jail. Instead the county now has a tent-like structure and jail trailers with additional bed space.

Clifford said these are not options for the Ada County Jail, because it needs more than just additional beds.

“We really need the expansion and infrastructure upgrades,” he said. “Even if we line that thing with trailers and put tents out there, it still doesn’t expand our kitchen. It doesn’t expand our warehouse. None of that.”

He added that the trailer and tent options are less secure than a permanent jail building but suggested that “if push comes to shove,” they may have to consider temporary options.

The Republican sheriff said he refused to be “all gloom and doom” about the defeat. He noted that a sizable majority of voters supported it.

“We just probably need to get some more education out there for people that don’t understand it,” he said.

The three county commissioners, Republicans Rod Beck, Ryan Davidson and Tom Dayley, declined to comment beyond a statement they posted on Facebook on Wednesday.

“We look forward to working with the Ada County Sheriff’s Office to ensure that our focus remains the safety of all Ada County residents,” the statement said. “65.8% means a lot of voters in our community support expanding and updating the Ada County Jail to ensure public safety. The 66.67% threshold was a steep hill to climb, and we are in this for the long haul. We believe voters had the right to decide on an issue of this significance.”

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