Pubdate: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Contact: Jim Stingl, Journal Sentinel staff, Fran Bauer contr. to this report. Fax: (414) 224-8280 Website: http://www.jsonline.com/ WITH JAIL JAMPACKED, INMATES PUT IN GYM Sheriff calls attention to highest load ever With the Milwaukee County Jail bulging at more than twice its capacity, Sheriff Lev Baldwin began moving prisoners Monday into the Safety Building gymnasium, normally used for exercise by judges, lawyers and deputies -- and he said his next makeshift jail might be the new dormitory at State Fair Park. The Sheriff's Department made two visits to the State Fair dormitory last week and is developing a staffing plan for that location, Baldwin said. He said the dorm, officially called the State Fair Park Youth Center, would hold 1,000 inmates. County lawyers have interpreted the law to say that the sheriff may use such a facility in an emergency. "Once we're in there, I wouldn't see us getting out of there," Baldwin said. State Fair Director Rick Bjorklund praised the sheriff and said he sympathized with his problem, but said the State Fair Park Board had "not necessarily a positive view" of the idea. Bjorklund said it was his impression that the Sheriff's Department concluded the dorm would not meet its needs. "That was the last we heard," he said. West Allis Mayor Jeannette Bell and other city officials were surprised to hear about Baldwin's proposal for a jail at the State Fair dorm. The mayor said that jailing prisoners at the State Fair would "not be an appropriate use for a tourist attraction." "State Fair has always been considered a tourist attraction, and it should remain that and should only be developed for positive purposes," Bell said. The sheriff clearly is trying to draw attention to his crowding problem. He invited the media to watch Monday as the first inmates claimed their mattresses on the wood floor of the gym and settled in on picnic tables to watch television. Six portable toilets for the inmates are down a hallway in a garage. By 3 p.m., 41 inmates had been moved from the County Jail to the gym, just east of the jail at 9th and State streets. Baldwin said he planned to place a maximum of 100 inmates in the gym. Efforts are being made to select less violent or disruptive inmates, or those in jail for violating probation or parole, for the gym assignment. "It's a quick fix, that's all," he said. Baldwin closed the gym briefly last March, but he decided against housing inmates there when the jail population took a sudden dip. However, in recent months it has been steadily climbing. The County Jail opened in November 1992 and has a capacity of 798. That number was exceeded during the first year of operation, and last week for the first time the inmate population was more than double capacity. On Friday it hit a record 1,630. On Monday, 163 inmates were living in the jail's booking area and sleeping on chairs and the floor, with another couple of dozen in police vans waiting in the drop-off area. Baldwin said he would like to get the jail down to 1,100 inmates and cap it there. Baldwin is blaming the state in part for the crowding. The state Department of Corrections has been lax in removing state parole and probation violators from the jail and housing them in state facilities, he said. The number of those offenders in the jail now is about 280. Corrections Secretary Mike Sullivan said Monday he told Baldwin that all these prisoners would be out of the jail by early April. "The sheriff and I talked last week," Sullivan said. "He seemed very satisfied with the state's efforts." He added that discussions continue with city officials about building a state correctional facility at 10th and State streets. The gym is not the only place Baldwin has turned to for space. Seventy inmates are locked up at the old city jail at the police administration building, and 110 prisoners are housed at the old county jail in the Safety Building. Another 400 people remain free and are on a waiting list to serve time at the House of Correction with work releases. Construction continues on a 600-bed addition to the House of Correction in Franklin. Baldwin said a fall opening is expected. County Supervisor Anthony Zielinski said Monday he would renew his effort to approve building a tent-like "stress membrane" structure at the House of Correction to hold 300 inmates. The structure could be built inexpensively in 60 to 90 days. He also wants to build another 400-bed unit at the House of Correction. The Sheriff's Department has received many complaints about closing the gym to people who pay $85 a year to play basketball, lift weights, do aerobics or run on the indoor track. Some people, however, were more understanding. Circuit Judge Kitty Brennan said at least she can still use the locker room in the Safety Building and run outside if the weather allows. "I'm not incensed," she said. "I think the sheriff is in a bad spot, and he needs to do what he needs to do."