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| Tenn. inmates crowd jail |
| By Nashville City Paper |
| Published: 03/01/2004 |
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Tenn. Gov. Phil Bredesen said last Wednesday he will likely back pedal on budget cuts, which could cost Metro Nashville as much as $500,000 in reimbursements for locally housed state prisoners. Bredesen's new budget, submitted last month, decreases reimbursement payments made by the state for those prisoners held in facilities that exceed capacity limits. The reimbursement rate is decreased in half from $32 to $16 per day under the proposed budget, which must gain approval of the legislature. "In two counties - Davidson and Hamilton County - the numbers are fairly substantial," said Bredesen. "I just said I understand this is pinching a couple of counties and I'm going to call some people into my office next week and see if there is a better way we can do this. "The effect on Davidson County is about $500,000, and that's a lot to ask one county to do." The overall reimbursement rate cuts across the state would equal roughly $1.5 million and are more of an incentive to reduce overcrowding than a funding issue, said Bredesen, who said the funding could be made up elsewhere in the budget. Bredesen, who spoke to a group of county representatives attending a Tennessee County Services Association (TCSA) meeting last Wednesday morning, asked that officials when examining reimbursement cuts, keep in mind proposed increases in state education spending. Metro Sheriff Daron Hall says a great deal of overcrowding in Davidson County is essentially caused by the housing of state prisoners awaiting transport. Because Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is contracted by Metro to house locally sentenced felons - prisoners not affected by the reimbursement cuts - most state prisoners held are only in detainment for an interim period, said Hall. Metro averages roughly 18,000 state prisoner days per year, he said. A reimbursement rate of $16 wouldn't pay for itself, he said. |
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