The Lake County Sheriff’s Department has been working toward renovating the shooting range, including a recent budget transfer of more than $890,000 for the project, as discussions and lawsuits have shared details of deteriorating conditions in the jail.
The department’s shooting range, which has been open since 1975, has older equipment and its ventilation, mechanical equipment, building structure and infrastructure “have reached end-of-life status and need to be replaced,” said Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez in a statement.
The shooting range is used for state-mandated firearms training and qualification for police officers and by other county departments, including correctional officers, judges, bailiffs, court security officers and officers from other law enforcement agencies, Martinez said.
“The complete renovation of the shooting range is crucial to ensuring we have a safe and efficient training facility for all who use it,” Martinez said.
The funding for the renovation will come from the sheriff’s budget but required budgetary allocation from the council, Martinez said. On Tuesday, the council approved $890,722 in budget transfers in the sheriff’s budget for building and structures spending, which sheriff’s officials said will mostly be spent on the shooting range renovation.
“We did not ask the county council for any additional funding. Instead, the renovation funding came from sources including state and federal asset forfeiture, public safety fund, sheriff’s sales and firearms permit fees,” Martinez said.
There have been countless lawsuits and court cases that mentioned poor jail conditions, including a case where defense lawyer John Cantrell said the jail has been dealing with a “bunch of chaos,” including power outages, overflowing water, locks that didn’t work and inmates caught with shanks.
In April, Martinez denied allegations of unsanitary conditions in the jail amid social media claims that inmates experienced rough conditions amid a water leak in the Lake County Government Center and the jail late last week.
The seven candidates running for sheriff in the May primary brought up the deteriorating conditions of the jail.
Lake County Correctional Officer John Gregory (Jack) Sanchez, who ran for sheriff in the Democratic primary in May but lost, said in a candidate interview in April with the Post-Tribune that the jail “is in a crisis right now,” from understaffing, overcrowding and infrastructure issues.
Sanchez said the ceiling tiles in the jail are rotting, and there are doors that don’t lock properly.
“The conditions within the jail, the facility, the infrastructure itself is rotting,” Sanchez said.
The Lake County Jail had been under the U.S. Department of Justice’s oversight from 2010 to 2019 following a 2010 settlement agreement with the department stemming from a civil lawsuit filed in 2007 by inmates claiming inhumane conditions and inadequate health care while the jail was under the administration of former Sheriff Roy Dominguez.
The lawsuit resulted in a settlement agreement containing 92 “compliance targets the jail had to achieve and maintain for 1 year to meet the conditions” of the agreement, Martinez said previously.
Initially, the DOJ found 99 deficiencies in the jail, in particular, unsanitary and unsafe living conditions, and systemic violations of the constitutional rights of inmates regarding medical and mental health care and suicide prevention.
Seven deficiencies, such as mold in the shower area, were taken care of within a few months, so Martinez was tasked with improving the remaining 92 deficiencies, officials said at the time.
When it comes to the jail, Martinez said Monday he has made improvements during his tenure but said it’s the Lake County Board of Commissioners’ responsibility “to take action to make repairs.”
“In fact, many of the problems with the jail are structural in nature and are in the process of being repaired. The responsibility of pushing those projects with contractors and resolving any delays lies solely in the hands of commissioners,” Martinez said.
Lake County Board of Commissioners President Michael Repay, D-3rd, said when the sheriff communicates the need for repairs, the commissioners facilitate the work needed, even using a construction company the sheriff’s office requested.
But Repay questioned whether the sheriff has been communicating all the repairs needed at the jail to the commissioners.
“We have not been allowed to have an independent inspection of the jail, so therefore we have to go off of what the sheriff says (needs repair),” Repay said.
As sheriff, Martinez said his administration has acquired new portable radios and stun guns for correctional officers. Martinez said the jail has new cameras “to help give staff state-of-the-art tools to handle emergencies safely and reduce the time it takes to respond.”
The jail has also implemented a Vivitrol program that helps inmates struggling with alcohol dependence and can help prevent relapse for those with opioid dependence after detoxing, Martinez said. The jail also has a reentry program that helps inmates ease back into their communities, he said.
Martinez said his administration has been communicating structural and mechanical issues with the jail to the commissioners via email every day. For example, Martinez said his department has “been making (the) commissioners aware of work that needs to be done on the roof for years now.”
Beginning the week of June 8, Martinez said work on the roof will start. Work on the lighting in the jail will start soon, he said.
akukulka@post-trib.com
