Des Moines County sheriff warns jail stays lengthening as mental-health placements lag

Des Moines County law-enforcement leadership told the Board of Supervisors the county jail census and waits for competency and residential placements are increasing, placing extra strain on correctional and deputy staff.

Kevin (the county law-enforcement speaker) told the board the jail that morning held 75 adults and one juvenile, with six detainees housed out of county and three people waiting on competency and restoration placements. "That process takes a lot of time. So we end up sitting on them, and it can be months at a time," Kevin said, describing a bottleneck he attributed to gaps in state-level mental-health and restoration capacity.

Kevin said the county is working with the Iowa Department of Corrections and Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to find cooperative approaches but described the caseload and timeline as a continuing challenge. He also said staff are providing hospital security for an inmate currently hospitalized, a duty that "really taxes our correctional officers staff and deputy staff."

Board members listened and made no formal motion on the matter during the public meeting. The remarks framed the issue as operational and rooted in state-level placement capacity rather than a change in local policy; Kevin recommended continued coordination with state agencies and noted that the list of people waiting for placements had grown since earlier in the year.

The board scheduled a brief work session immediately after the meeting on a separate agenda item (wind ordinance review); no vote or formal directive addressing jail placements or funding was recorded in the public meeting minutes.