The crumbling Washington County Jail is becoming a health hazard, according to the people who work and are confined there. Voters rejected a local option sales tax last year that would’ve built a new jail. Chief Jailer Stan Stoops says the state cut the number of inmates the facility can house, making space an even greater problem.Washington County is exporting inmates to Muscatine & Mahaska counties, which cost 15-thousand dollars last month. The aging county jail, in the town of Washington, has a leaky roof which allows water to trickle down the walls next to electrical lines. Earlier this week, residents in Buena Vista County voted overwhelmingly against a 5-point-7 million dollar bond issue that would’ve built a new county jail.
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