LAKE COUNTY — The toilets sometimes back up pouring sewage into the living spaces.
Housing just one person costs more than most Lake County residents make working per year.
So it happened, on a holiday weekend at the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility the toilets did get backed up.
Undersheriff Patrick Turturici said the inmates get bored sometimes and flush random items until the system is overloaded.
The inmate responsible wasn”t too difficult to identify. His mattress was gone. He ripped off pieces of the bedding and flushed them down the toilet until the system was blocked, backed up and overflowed.
It took in excess of eight hours for the maintenance crew to fix the problem.
There is a valve that can prevent these multiple flushes that intentionally block the system in the overcrowded jail. The valves cost about $900 each ? now multiply that by 40.
Three men, along with an understaffed group of “underpaid but dedicated” employees, are tackling problems at the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility, according to Turturici.
“The Sheriff”s Department and Corrections personnel are all deserving of raises,” Turturici said.
The jail was in serious disrepair and out of compliance long before more inmates arrived ? many of whom should be serving time in prison.
The official capacity for the facility is 286. There are about 300 inmates now.
When AB-109 took effect, tens of thousands of inmates moved from state prisons to cash-and resource-strapped county jails, posing incredible hardships on rural areas, such as Lake County.
Turturici, Lt. Greg Hosman and Lt. Jason Findley, outlined plans and accomplishments Thursday at the jail. They said they are moving forward to improve conditions and insure safety.
Fixing a leaking propane tank garnered a savings of more than $200,000. Switching food vendors stands to save millions and institutional, rather than residential, fixtures are being installed in the showers. The valves that prevent the aforementioned toilet issue will also be installed.
“We have lots of challenges here,” Turturici admitted.
But he said they get tremendous support from the Sheriff, District Attorney, Probation Department and the Board of Supervisors.
The trio have successfully secured state grants to put their visions into action.
Turturici, Hosman and Findley said their collective goal is to provide an atmosphere that promotes rehabilitation.
“This is a humanitarian effort,” Turturici said. “I think, ?how would I want to be treated if I were in jail?””
A wall that is quick and easy to jump over will be fixed. Approval was recently granted. A 40-bed mental health system is in the works.
There are hopes and plans for classes including anger management, GED, parenting and substance abuse education.
“We have a long way to go, but we want to make this a model facility where there is hope for healthy change,” Turtirici said.
