This week’s topic was Jail and Juvenile Detention tours.  We began by meeting at the WFPD station and carpooling to the Juvenile Detention Center, just off 10th Street South.

The Juvenile Detention Center is run and managed by the Cass County Sheriff’s Department and staffed at all times by two deputies on 12-hour shifts.  The Center can hold up to 22 individuals when double-bunked in 11 rooms, but typically has fewer than 11 at one per room.  Tonight, eight juveniles were being held.

Any juvenile charged with a non-status crime (status crimes are curfew violations, underage smoking or drinking, etc.) may be held at the Juvenile Detention Center, and will remain in the Center unless charged in District Court as an adult.  In some instances individuals may be held up to age 20 in the Juvenile Detention Center, depending on circumstances.

We then drove over to the Cass County Jail, just south of Main Avenue on 34th Street.  This facility is HUGE — the one hallway connection all the pods is 1/4 mile long!  We were shown an induction video shown to all inmates upon arrival, and were then taken on a tour of the facility.

All doors in the jail are controlled either in the individual pods by the command staff or, more commonly, in the main control room.  Cameras are everywhere, as expected, and access is very restricted (also as expected).  We were shown the laundry room (in which a dryer started on fire mere seconds after I asked what happens in case of a fire) and the largest kitchen facility in the area.  We were also shown two of the inactive pods and holding cells for inmates.

Overall, the newness of the Cass County Jail played a large part in my opinion that it was not nearly as ominous or creepy as I had expected.  It was a rather nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there!