Bus needed to transport county inmates
 
By JIM SECKLER
Mohave Daily News
 
KINGMAN — Inmates going to court may have to be bused from the new Mohave County Jail once it is completed this summer.

The county is going out for bids for a passenger bus to hold at least 30 inmates. The bus will be used to take jail inmates the mile-long drive from the new jail to Superior Court in Kingman. Currently, the jail is across the street from the courthouse and guards walk inmates the hundred yards to court. Only high-profile inmates such as Warren Jeffs are driven in a sheriff’s office vehicle to the courthouse’s back entrance.

The bus is expected to average about 30 to 35 inmates a day, taking about four trips each day to the courthouse. The cost of gas will depend on the type of bus purchased. The county could buy a diesel-powered bus, Mohave County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Trish Carter said.

Superior Court Judge Steven Conn sees most of his criminal cases, about 40 or 50 defendants, on Mondays. Judge Rick Williams has most of his criminal cases on Fridays. Judge Lee Jantzen, who now handles mostly civil cases, has a few remaining criminal cases. Court Commissioner Derek Carlisle handles about 20 percent of the criminal cases, usually on Thursdays and Fridays. Judge Richard Weiss also handles a handful of criminal cases.

The cost of the bus must not exceed $60,000 and the vehicle must not be older than a 2006 model. Only Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge and International Brand buses will be considered. The county would convert the bus to include segregated cell partitions in the bus. Bidders have until March 17 to submit bids to the county procurement department.

The new $72 million Mohave County Jail is under construction in Kingman just off Interstate 40. It is expected to be completed in July. The 242,000-square-foot jail is being built on a 19-acre county-owned site across a ravine from the county administration building. The three-story jail will have space for 688 beds housing more than 700 inmates with room to expand to more than 1,100 beds.

The current jail, built in 1986, has a capacity for about 240 beds but houses an average daily inmate population of 300 to 400 inmates. As of Wednesday, there were 389 inmates housed at the jail and at the jail annex.

Once the new jail is built, one option had been to use the existing jail as a temporary holding cell for inmates who have court hearings that day. But staffing the existing jail and the new jail could be too costly. Video hearings could also be used in some court hearings.
 
MohaveDailyNews.com
Originally published Friday, February 19, 2010
 
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