Johnson County to seek grant to study overcrowding at jailJohnson County to seek grant to study overcrowding at jail

A slew of Johnson County officials are supporting the application for a grant that would help address overcrowding at the Johnson County Jail.

The Johnson County Board of Supervisors, the County Attorneyas Office and the Sheriffas Office will jointly apply for the MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge Grant, County Attorney Janet Lyness said Thursday morning.

The grant would award $150,000 in technical assistance to up to 20 local governments throughout the country, Jessica Peckover, the countyas jail alternatives program coordinator, told the Johnson County Board of Supervisors on Thursday morning.

The grant money would help the county collect data on who is populating the jail and why, Peckover said.

The money, according to a MacArthur Foundation news release, would help governments establish afairer, more effective local justice systems using innovative, collaborative and evidence-based solutionsa to overincarceration.

Lyness said if Johnson County was awarded the money, it would hire someone to collect such data as the most common arrests, charges, and the amount of pretrial jail time inmates have.

aWe would get a snapshot of the jail population,a Lyness said.