Committing a crime is not always a requirement to spend the night in jail. For a fee, people can now spend a night behind bars at the new Cole County Jail in Jefferson City as part of its new Bed, Breakfast and Bars program.
“They’re going to know what it’s like to be an inmate, and why we follow the procedures we do to ensure the safety of the facility and the community,” Cole County Sheriff Greg White said.
Officers take photos of the participants when they arrive and patrons go on a tour of the facility after dinner and watch a video about its operation. At bedtime, jailers escort all of the “inmates” to their cells where they stay the night with another person. Officers lock the participants in their cells. However, they can ask to be let out whenever they want. Rovers check the cells twice every hour until morning. Participants then clean their cells, eat breakfast and leave.
Bed, Breakfast and Bars comes with a T-shirt and costs $30.
“For some people, that’s a humbling experience to hear, ‘You have to go to bed,’ or, ‘This is what you’re going to eat,’” Superintendent Russ Bemboom said.
White said the program has two main purposes.
One is to show Cole County residents what became of their tax dollars. Voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase in 2007 to fund the new facility, which Bemboom said can hold about four times as many inmates as the old jail with less than twice the number of officers on duty.
Cole County Presiding Commissioner Marc Ellinger said he expects the total jail cost to be about $28 million.
Jailers also get the chance to run through new safety procedures during this one-night stay.
“The benefit from the sheriff’s side of it is that we get friendly people who want to be here testing the equipment,” Bemboom said.
Bemboom could not disclose when the real inmates will move in due to security concerns. But he said knowing how long it takes to feed and escort hundreds of people will be helpful in the future.
Boone County Chief Jailer Warren Brewer said patrons’ experiences could correct distorted ideas of what happens inside these facilities.
“All the public has, as a general rule, is what they get from the media and entertainment,” he said.
Brewer was not familiar with the jail’s new program, but he said people could find the intricacies of jail work interesting. Patrons can learn the little details of jail life, like that inmates get razors and whether they get to shower daily, he said.
Leftover money from the program, after expenses, will go to the Cole County Sheriff’s Department and the Cole County Pacesetter program for the United Way of Central Missouri.
Anyone who is at least 17 years old is eligible to sign up for Bed, Breakfast and Bars. About 100 people have already registered and the jail can hold about 200 inmates. The program has a July 15 and a July 16 session and participants should arrive at 5:30 p.m. for booking.
