A word from the Sheriff: The Family Plan

BONNERS FERRY — “We have a lot of people that come into our jail for different reasons,” said Boundary County Sheriff Dave Kramer. “It is unfortunate that we currently have a separate combination of a mother and daughter and a father and son all being held in our jail.”

They are being held on unrelated charges and were arrested at different times.

“I think everyone would agree that this is not quality family time,” Kramer said. “Their names are not important, but what is important is trying to break the cycle.”

Many that are arrested have issues with substance abuse whether it is illegal drugs, abusing prescription drugs or abuse of alcohol. The majority of people that the BCSO house in the jail are not bad people, but they have made some very bad choices in their lives and they are experiencing the consequences for those choices, Kramer said.

Some people need to hit bottom before making needed changes and sometimes being arrested brings that bottom up to them before they hit a spot that they can’t recover from, he said. Resources are provided at the jail and volunteer professional counselors talk to the inmates and give them access to tools to make the positive changes needed to avoid recycling back through the system.

“Making additional challenges for our detention staff, we are dealing with more and more incidents where users of illegal substances are suffering from severe mental health issues,” Kramer said. “It is very difficult to provide adequate care for those inmates while maintaining a safe working environment for staff and safe living conditions for other inmates.”

Once out of jail, they are usually placed on probation to help hold them accountable from falling back into their ways that got them in jail in the first place. More dangerous drugs like fentanyl are coming across our southern border and making their way to places like Boundary County. And, there are also prescriptions being abused.

The BCSO encourages individuals to destroy their old prescriptions and keep current prescriptions in a secure place where they can be accounted for.

It is unfortunate, but someone addicted to drugs will steal from family members either for their own use or to sell, Kramer said.

The sheriff’s office has a prescription drop off box in front of their office for expired or unused prescriptions drugs.

“We have to work together as a community to try and break the cycle of substance abuse. No family should have to get together in jail,” he said.