Marie Moyer
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Local group No New Jail Boone Co. is pushing back against a sales tax increase set to appear on the November ballot.
No New Jail Boone Co. includes members who are volunteers at other local groups. This includes COMO Mobile Aid, Room at the Inn, Loaves and Fishes and Boone County Community Bail Fund.
“We have experience with the jail and with the criminal punishment system, and we see the effects of it in Boone County. The turmoil that it causes, not just the people who are incarcerated, but their families, their loved ones,” No New Jail Boone Co. member John Amick said.
Last week, the Boone County Commission approved a proposal to put a 3/8-cent sales tax on the November ballot. The motion was initially requested by Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey, who plans to use the funds to build a new Boone County Jail.
No New Jail Boone Co. is inviting the public to meet Wednesday, according to a Facebook post.
Amick said the meeting plans to feature a presentation on the current jail and how a new jail would impact the region. This will be followed by a discussion for residents to consider community-based solutions.
“Let’s talk why the sheriff and county commission can only imagine one direction for Boone County: higher taxes for more cages,” the post states. “Let’s talk a different direction and setting the tone for coming decades that doesn’t hinge on despair and exploitation.”
The group acknowledges the current incarceration system is a complex issue, but they would like to see officials turn to resources with a focus on prevention and support to build a “structure of care” for the community.
“Trying to rehabilitate or having something that works is the goal, it’s been an abysmal failure, and so we should do something different, not just because it hasn’t worked, but because it’s humane, it doesn’t involve disposing of people and giving up on them,” Amick said.
“Part of this is the court system, part of this is the state of Missouri and its failure to find places for folks who are in the jail with serious mental health issues,” Amick adds. “I know it’s not all on the county commissioner or the sheriff’s office, for them to do it, but we have the capability of figuring out who maybe needs to be separate from some people in the here and now and who doesn’t need to be.”
Amick also hopes utilizing available resources would set a positive precedent for the future.
“Always it seems to me, a county sheriff, whether it’s in Boone County or not, all over the country, they will probably always push for more incarceration,” Amick said. “That’s the kind of tone that’s set now and it seems that the sheriff and the county commission are content on keeping that tone without really exploring anything else.”
Carey reports the current jail is outdated for inmate needs, with Boone County housing hundreds of inmates in out-of-county facilities.
According to prior reporting, it cost over $2.5 million in 2025 to house inmates. It cost around $499,000 for housing in 2022. From January to March this year, it cost around $1.12 million to house detainees out-of-county.
During last week’s Boone County Commission meeting, the commission also planned to use the time between elections to review current prevention resources and to strategize potential jail construction budgets.
District II Commissioner Janet Thompson called for a possible revival of the “Jail Overcrowding Group” formed by a former commissioner.
The group was made up of other officials who often work with inmates, such as county commissioners, prosecutors, sheriffs and judges. The group worked together to discuss what resources were available for those involved.
“The county became a leader in adult services through that time because we utilized the new ways of looking at how we take care of people and how we can divert people through adult court services,” Thompson said. “That was part of that whole process of saying, ‘How do we do this better? How do we keep the right people in our jail and not just throw people in just willy nilly and do it with no rationale?'”
Carey added that he has reached out to those involved.
“I agree with Commissioner Thompson on this, it’s more about guarding against this problem from really elevating,” Carey said. “Once we do get in this new jail four or five years from now, and we have to do something to address this mental health crisis at the local level because we’re just not going to get the funding from the state and feds.”
Boone County Auditor Kyle Rieman estimates that, based on current 1/8-cent collections from the current Prop L tax in 2025, this tax increase would start in 2027 and generate at least $17 million annually.
“It’s a blank check, we don’t really know what the extent will be,” Amick said.
The new jail plans call for around 570 beds. The jail would also have accommodations for inmates certified by the Department of Mental Health and juveniles.
The meeting is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Columbia Public Library Friends Room.
ABC 17 News has reached out to Carey for comment.
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