Officials Refute Misinformation About Planned Jail and Law Enforcement Center

Portage County officials are working to dispel misconceptions about the size and purpose of the county’s planned jail and law enforcement center, emphasizing that the facility is designed to meet current needs rather than expand capacity.

Sheriff Mike Lukas clarified in a recent interview that the planned 196-bed jail is sized to accommodate the county’s existing inmate population while addressing critical safety and operational deficiencies in the current facility.

“The jail size that is being built is 196 beds,” Lukas said. “Working with the Department of Corrections, you’re strongly encouraged to stay under about 80 percent capacity, which would bring us down to about 150.”

The Portage County Board of Supervisors approved borrowing up to $160 million for the project in November 2025. The new facility will be built on county-owned land near the intersection of Black Oak Drive and County Road R in the Village of Plover, representing the first phase of a larger public safety initiative that also includes approximately $5 million in immediate security upgrades at the Portage County Courthouse.

On the day of the interview, Portage County had 131 inmates who would require jail beds if space were available locally. This included 73 inmates housed in the county jail, about 40 housed in other counties due to space limitations, 10 individuals on electronic monitoring, and eight inmates under other custodial arrangements.

Sheriff Lukas emphasized that inmates housed in other facilities remain part of the county’s responsibility, requiring frequent transportation for court hearings, medical appointments, and other proceedings.

“They’re basically an extension of Portage County jail to another facility,” Lukas said. “Our two transport guys are constantly running back and forth.”

A major limitation of the current facility is the inability to properly separate inmates based on risk assessments. Captain Ronnie Leach explained that while their classification system contains nine custody levels, the existing jail can only accommodate three broad categories: maximum, medium, and minimum security.

This constraint creates potentially dangerous situations, particularly for female inmates, who are currently housed together regardless of classification.

“You could have somebody who made a really stupid mistake on a Friday night and gets thrown into jail,” Leach said. “And they could be housed with somebody that lit grandma on fire and beat her with a dumbbell.”

The proposed facility would include specialized housing for inmates with mental health issues and medical needs. Currently, these individuals are often placed in holding cells, which Lukas described as inappropriate for people experiencing mental health crises.

The sheriff also addressed what he called misinformation circulating during the county executive race, including claims that the facility would house federal immigration detainees or inmates from outside the county.

“We’re not building a facility that’s going to house outside inmates,” Lukas said. “We’re not building this for an ICE facility.”

County Board Chairman Ray Reser, who is running for county executive, noted that comparisons to jail projects in other counties can be misleading when they don’t account for differences in scope.

The Portage County project differs significantly from other regional jail projects, such as Wood County’s, which was built on an existing government campus with utilities already in place. Portage County’s facility will require development of a raw site with new infrastructure, water service, and site preparation.

Beyond serving as a jail, the proposed law enforcement center will consolidate several county functions currently spread across multiple locations, including dispatch operations, emergency management, EMS coordination, and the sheriff’s office fleet garage.

“It’ll all be under one roof for a quick response,” Lukas noted.

Officials emphasize that the new facility will allow for expanded inmate programming designed to reduce recidivism. Currently, inmates housed in other counties often lose access to education and treatment programs available in Portage County.

“If you were talking to our inmates that we ship out to be safekeepers, that is probably the biggest gripe that they have,” Lukas said.

Reser stressed that the county envisions more than just a security facility: “We’re really looking at a humane, livable, well-lit restorative justice facility.”

County Executive John Pavelski suggested that public confusion about the project stems partly from limited civic engagement and the spread of misinformation.

“People really aren’t involved in their government, and they don’t really understand what all happens with public safety,” Pavelski said.

While officials acknowledged the county does not currently track detailed recidivism statistics, they expect these efforts to expand as justice programs develop in the new facility.