Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
May 7, 2015

Submitted photo.
Submitted photo.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Jackson County and Kansas City have consolidated their jail services.

At a press conference today, city and county officials announced the opening of a new holding facility on the ground floor of the Jackson County Detention Center, to house Kansas City Police Department [KCPD] detainees awaiting arraignment. The new holding facility began processing police detainees Friday, May 1, 2015. The Jackson County Detention Center’s ground floor underwent renovations to accommodate up to 100 detainees.

In the past, the KCPD held detainees in a facility on the eighth floor of Police Headquarters in downtown Kansas City. Those holding cells had not been renovated since the building opened in 1938 and would have required millions in upgrades for continued use. The savings to the taxpayers are roughly around $6 million.

The city pays the county $52.50 per day per arrestee held at the Detention Center—the same daily rate for each inmate in the RCC. The RCC houses up to 106 male and 48 female inmates. The Detention Center renovations included:

  • The conversion of a storage room to a 28-bed dormitory holding arrestees awaiting a video arraignment before a Kansas City Municipal Court judge. Video arraignments will be conducted every day except Sunday.)
  • A 20-bed dormitory, in an area that had been designated for future expansion, holding arrestees awaiting arraignment on more serious state charges.
  • An 18-bed dorm for female arrestees. About one in 10 KCPD arrestees is female.
  • Other holding cells, isolation cells and padded cells.