By Nora G. Hertel
Daily Herald Media
WAUSAU — A new piece of technology is helping the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department stay up to code and keep officers and jail inmates safer, the latest in a string of changes in the jail made since an inmate attacked a corrections officer almost two years ago.
A review of jail policies conducted after that attack, in which a corrections officer was critically injured, found policies to be dated and piecemeal, said Marathon County Jail Administrator Sandra La Du-Ives, who was put in charge of the jail in December and has since instituted broad facility and policy changes. The old manual on how things were to be done in the jail contained a series of policies put in place over the preceding 20 years, some of them tacked on to old policies.
“Essentially, we’re starting from scratch with the policy manual,” La Du-Ives said. Changes include details on how inmates are to be classified and awarded privileges based on behavior. Every procedure that governs the jail is being reviewed.
Marathon County is one of six counties in the state using a system called Lexipol to overhaul and digitize law enforcement policies, said Mary Jo Maly, risk manager for the county. It’s used across the country and recommended by the Wisconsin Municipal Mutual Insurance Company, which covers the county and pays for $7,500 of the subscription cost.
Marathon County has two subscriptions with Lexipol; one for police policy costs the county $5,059 annually, and the other, for custody policy used at the jail, costs the county $6,435.
The company compiles federal and state law and best practices into a manual that local officers tailor to their programs and policies. It also includes interactive questionnaires and daily training bulletins.
Before it can be fully implemented in the county, Sheriff’s Department staff must painstakingly review each policy — hundreds of them. But La Du-Ives doesn’t mind that. “I love policy,” she said with a laugh.
Full story: New system should improve policy, safety in jail