The Winnebago County Jail is in its seventh year of existence. It replaced a jail with a number of issues that have since been resolved and turned into an apartment complex in downtown Forest City. The current jail on the other hand is experiencing typical and very minor structural issues which are being addressed before they become problematic. Winnebago County Sheriff Steve Hepperly described what he is seeing.
New construction invariably suffers from some sort of issues depending on the ground that they were built on and Hepperly believes he knows what the problem is here.
Each of these jail facilities was built by different contractors and it appears to be soil and ground issues for many of them. As far as the Winnebago County Jail is concerned, Hepperly reassures that there is no danger to the public.
On March 4, 2014, the voters of Winnebago County passed a $4.6 million bond issue specifically for the construction of the jail. The facility has seen very few problems since its construction and is now used to house inmates from surrounding counties as well as those from Winnebago County. The current problem will not hamper those agreements between the counties.
Hepperly wants the public to be aware of what is happening to their jail along with plans to fix the issues.
Stay Connected with North Iowa Now
Add North Iowa Now as a preferred source on Google to see more local news, weather, and sports in your feed.
Follow us on Facebook for breaking news, severe weather alerts, sports, and more.
