Hank Williams, Jr.
The current sheriff spoke at a press conference on Thursday October 12, 2006 and he stated, “Kankakee County is a safer place today than it was 10 years ago”. If this is a true statement, why is he placing such an enormous burden upon the county taxpayer’s with the Jerome Combs Prison? When completed, this edifice will have an inmate bed capacity to rival Will County’s; not to mention that Will County is 6 ½ times the size of Kankakee, and has out distanced, out paced and out planned us in the field of economic development.
He further proceeded to elaborate by expounding upon a self-generated question, "Do we say that all crime is gone in Kankakee County? Certainly not, but we've made some significant inroads in trying to reduce it."
At the recent Kankakee YMCA’s Living and Learning Committee Forum conducted at Kankakee Community College on Sunday October 15, 2006 the current sheriff when questioned in reference to the drug traffic in the county stated to the effect that it was the federal government’s responsibility to target the high profile suppliers.
It is the sheriff’s sole responsibility to create a comprehensive strategic plan to target the high-profile sophisticated narcotic king-pins and cartels that have a predaceous and cataclysmic history of supplying drugs into our country. Once elected, I plan to work with the federal government and seek federal indictments on this systemic high profile trade.
Crack cocaine has spread across Kankakee County like a prairie fire and the sad downside effect is this; the current sheriff doesn’t want to roll up his sleeves and address this situation. Or maybe he doesn’t know how to address it. Communities are dealing with, and attempting to wrestle with solutions.
For a tiny drug, crack cocaine is having an insidious impact upon our constituency. In its most popular size, 0.2 grams, the white or tan $20.00 crystals are one- eighth to one-fourth the size of an M&M candy. We must aggressively and tactically cut off the supply. Once we diligently cut off the supply, the demand for the drugs will force the dealers and users to obtain and ply their trade outside of Kankakee County.
In another area the current sheriff prides himself on preparing his budgets and making confirmed statements that his department is in the black and that the Rent-A-Prisoner program was on-track meeting their projections. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The current sheriff was budgeted for approximately $4,970,000 and he stated that the $4.97 million was to be derived from the “Out-of-County” Prisoner Program. He failed to mention that to date, he has only received $2,488,000 and is $2,264,000 short of meeting his projections.
The current sheriff also failed to mention that his oversight in attempting to fill bed space in the Station Street facility and the newly constructed Taj Mahal with both Federal and Cook County Prisoner’s has proven to be a “Failed Project.” In the recent Daily Journal article, the current sheriff also spoke about the county's decision to rent out bed space at the county jail, a decision that he said is paying dividends. The sheriff projects the county will bring in $3.9 million this year from housing out-of-county inmates.
The sheriff’s department is over budgeted on expenditures and under budgeted on income. However, his comments in the recent Daily Journal stated, "There are some rumors out on the street that this program with the (U.S.) Marshall's is failing. That's far from the truth." "The truth is we're right on target, the demand for bed space continues and will continue and what we're doing is running this like a business."
Under the Out of County Inmate Housing the current sheriff was budgeted for approximately $2,000.00 and he spent approximately $9,000.00 creating approximately $7,000.00 in deficit spending with three months to go in FY06. Under Food Expense approximately $475,000 budgeted, and approximately $551,000.00 spent on catered food for the inmate population which created approximately $76,000.00 in deficit spending with three months remaining.
The current sheriff is under the 8-Ball to the tune of approximately $45,000,000.00 to be assessed to the taxpayer’s of Kankakee County. The “Run-A-Way” Spending spree associated with the current sheriff’s office is approximately $9,932,157 compared to the budget five years ago. In essence, he has doubled the spending by hiring more employees; and by hiring more employee’s he has blatantly violated the Kankakee County Code.
The Kankakee County Code mandates the number of employees for each department. Currently the sheriff has seventy-one full-time and eight part-time deputies for an approximate total of seventy-nine. This represents an increase of 23 deputies over the allocated number. On the correctional side, there is approximately 128 employees of which approximately 8 are part-time. Mathematically, this represents an increase of 73 personal which will generate a $3,000,000.00 increase in wages alone.
It is time to end this “Run-A-Way” spending nightmare that has been perpetrated by the current sheriff. If you recall, he informed us that he had a contract from the Immigration and Naturalization Service when he conned us into building a facility to house INS detainees. His promise of a low impact revenue source was a just another lie. Egg on our face again!!

With all of the revenue that we are spending, If the “Rent-A-Prisoner” Program were to end for any reason; we are still going to have the Taj Mahal of Prisons, we are still going to have the debt load to repay, but The only thing missing will be the most important ingredient – The Income Revenue. The only thing that will change will be the legacy that the current sheriff will leave “Greed and Greedy Financial Oversight.”