Douglas County sheriff wants to adapt space at the jail to give women more time outside their cells

Douglas County Sheriff Jay Armbrister wants to consider how to reuse space in the local jail — without adding any new beds —  to help address inequities.  Men in minimum security at the jail get 16 hours a day of free time within their housing unit, Armbrister said; in that time, they can have visitors, be on the phone or watch TV. Women in minimum security, on the other hand, have about three and a half hours of free time each day, he said.  “It’s just not fair, and I can’t fix it,” he told Douglas County commissioners Wednesday. “… This is something that we want to see addressed and rectified.” Women constituted about 15% of the jail’s population as of Nov. 3, according to the county’s data dashboard, and the jail was built to house a small number of women. Having only one pod of 14 cells for women in minimum, medium and maximum security classifications has long been problematic.
Source: The Lawrence Times