Crook County’s jail problems go back at least a decade. The county does not have the space it needs to house its prisoners, and that has led to the early release of prisoners, including a man accused of stealing a Model A car last month.

It needs to find a better solution and is taking reasonable steps to do so.

The county currently has only 16 beds, crowded into a facility so small that it does not meet current state standards for jails. It rents another 16 beds from Jefferson County, and officials say it easily could use a total of 60 beds, well over double what is currently available.

The county court — comparable to Deschutes and Jefferson counties’ county commissions — continues to look for solutions, and with a new hospital scheduled to open about a year from now, it may be that the options have changed.

The old Pioneer Memorial Hospital, which moved to its current location in about 1950, contains 90,000 square feet and is big enough to contain both county and city police departments, courtroom space and the like. Cost of remodeling the hospital could be as little as half that of building a similar facility from scratch, says County Commissioner Ken Fahlgren.

Too, Fahlgren says, a 2008 study by the state found that the courthouse itself has structural problems. If the county could replace it with something at the hospital site, that, too, is worth exploring.

For now, the county will continue to rent beds in the Jefferson County Jail. It receives a discount from its neighbor to the north, and were it to rent more beds, that discount would increase. But renting presents its own problems — prisoners must be transported back and forth, and Crook County still must have facilities to hold them from time to time.

Given the availability of the old hospital, and given the state’s willingness to pay for part of the construction cost of a new courthouse, officials believe now is the time to take the discussion to the public. The county court will hold a two-hour public meeting on July 22 at Prineville City Hall, beginning at 4:30 p.m. If you wish to be part of the process, the meeting offers you that chance.