Starke County Jail Committee to Focus on Needs Assessment

Starke County Jail

The Starke County Jail Committee continues its quest in trying to decide what to do about the Starke County Jail. Starke County Commissioner, Kathy Norem, was asked where the Committee stands on their discussions.

“We have a needs assessment that has been sent out and we should receive the request for proposals from companies to do a needs assessment for us,” she replied. “Once those are completed and the study has been done, then I believe that we will need to bring that to the people and show them what the results of that study were that show us exactly what we should be doing for the jail; whether that be an addition, some sort of renovation, a new facility, and if so, what kind of new facility.”

The Committee recently held three public meetings concerning the project. Commissioner Norem was asked about what she has heard from the public concerning the jail.

“What I have gotten back from it is that nobody of course is happy about any kind of a project for the jail. However, people recognize that eventually something is going to have to be done and I think most people would prefer that those decisions are made locally rather than by a Federal Court Judge.”