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City’s jail costs to jump nearly 40 percent
County modifies 11-year-old agreement
Published Monday, May 18, 2009
IRONTON — The city’s cost to house its prisoners at the Lawrence County Jail is set to zoom up nearly 40 percent.
Lawrence County Commissioners altered the existing 11-year agreement they had with the city to raise the daily rate Ironton paid for prisoner housing from $40 to $55 per day. Ironton City Council met to vote on the amended contract commissioners voted to change on March 12. The issue was tabled.
If accepted, the new contract would replace a prisoner housing agreement the county and city have had in place since Jan. 31, 1998.
Ironton, along with nearly every other municipality in Lawrence County has had a long-standing, housing agreement with the county where prisoners charged with municipal crimes can be detained in the Lawrence County Jail. Cities, like Ironton, do not pay the county for prisoners jailed for violating state statutes, only for those in jail for municipal code violations.
Mayor Rich Blankenship said the $15 per day increase “will have some impact on the city’s budget” but that it was a little too early to tell.
Finance Director Kristen Martin said that due to the unknown variable of possible detainees, the city’s police operating jail fund for the 2009 budget year should be able to handle the increase.
“This line item is well cushioned at this point,” Martin said.
The daily fee increase comes in the wake of the Lawrence County Jail feeling the pinch of overcrowding and funding cuts.
Outfitted with 52 beds, the jail routinely has more than 70 inmates at a time — mostly for felonies. Add to that, a 15-percent decrease in funding and Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff Lawless has been forced to do more with less.
Between maintenance, prisoners’ medical bills, food costs, electricity and other expenses, jails often cost counties more money than they take in.
Through the first four months of the year, Lawless has been forced to pay Scioto County more than $107,000 to house “overflow inmates” when the Lawrence County Jail is too full.
With $300,000 budgeted in 2009 for overflow inmates the county has already burnt through a third of its allotment.
Lawless did not immediately return messages left by The Tribune to his office and cell phone as to how the daily fee increase could soften the anticipated deficit.
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Comments
Posted by MasterChef (anonymous) on May 18, 2009 at 10:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Gee, just a thought, but....why not refuse village prisoners altogether? Let them take their prisoners out-of-county. Or, THEY could pay for home confinement.
Uh....dumb question of the day....how do you fit 80 prisoners onto 52 beds? Do they cut cards, or what?
Posted by barkbeetle (anonymous) on May 18, 2009 at 2 p.m. (Suggest removal)
And the hits just keep on coming.....and long time no see Neo
Posted by swimmingupstream (anonymous) on May 18, 2009 at 3:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I had a idea I expressed earlier so I'll restate it here. First, I am against the EMS levy if it is just more money to throw at the problem. However, if the county, city, EMS, fire departments, sheriff, villages, and other concerned parties can come up with a comprehensive plan to combine all dispatching services under a 911 umbrella I'll support a levy. But there can be no more separate dispatching centers. They must be one.
Then the EMS levy has be strictly for EMS. No weasle language.
Next, the half-percent sales tax must be totally dedicated to the construction and operation of a new jail, big enough to house an appropriate number (say 150). And where could we build this new jail? How about the soon to be closed Dennis Ball Group Home property and the county garage property on 9th Street instead of giving it away to their buddies???
Next, money from the general fund now going to the jail could go to the sheriff to solve his budget problem since operation of the jail would be coming from the sales tax.
Once the construction of the jail is paid off, jail and sheriff expenses could be from the dedicated sales tax, thus freeing up general fund money for other government operations.
But remember, I'll only vote yes if a comprehensive plan is in place. Otherwise, forget it.
Posted by ironton86 (anonymous) on May 18, 2009 at 3:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Put to work in the fields to raise vegetables for the jail.They wanna eat then they can hoe a garden.That will help drop the food budget.Make it so they don't want to go back to jail.Make them earn their food.With the price of everything going up the county needs to look at the posibility of making work gardens and other means to a end of feeding the prisoners
Posted by irontonresident (anonymous) on May 19, 2009 at 8:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If the county already funds SEOEMS and they also bill the people that they transport, why do they need more money? Why do they need county funding if they are billing their patients?
What happened to the idea of an impound yard? If the State Patrols gets to use it, who will actually get the money. They get a kickback from our tags and drivers license fees. What will they get then?
I read where the Hamilton FD Chief stated that the Sheriff's Office isn't an emergency agency. It is the only 24/7 manned office and they respond to everything from burglaries and domestics to murders and alarms. What would you consider that? They aren't scheduled calls. They come in and they respond. Just like the FD does when there's a fire. Right???
I agree that the prisoners should work a garden and grow there own food. Other jails do it, why can't Lawrence County. I think if the prisoners are on medication, they should pay out of pocket for it themselves. Along with their medical treatment. How long do we, the residents of Lawrence County have to support the prisoners.
Posted by MasterChef (anonymous) on May 19, 2009 at 10:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
irontonresident, the Hamilton FD Chief has his head up where the sun doesn't shine. It is generally and widely accepted that all police agencies are, ideed, emergency services. Not every call/run is a life or death situation, just as firetrucks driving a parade route are not on a life or death run.
The Commissioners are now ready to make some serious and badly needed deep cuts to the county's miniscule budget. Cuts of this nature are very difficult to make.
They will have to pick and choose probably THIS week. I think that ALL the proposed options should be implemented. They've identified several million dollars worth of potential cuts. If they don't use all the possible cuts, aren't they missing a good chance to SHOW the voters they were sincere about bringing in budgets we can afford AND they were serious about "No New Taxes"?
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