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| Dorm has plenty of space, no prisoners |
| By thenewsstar.com - Zack Southwell |
| Published: 06/13/2011 |
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An empty dorm sits available, waiting for state Department of Corrections prisoners that bring with them state money, more than enough to cover expenses. That revenue flow is one way the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office can generate money to offset budget cuts made by the Ouachita Parish Police Jury, which is mandated by law to pay for OCC's operations. The dorm was built to replace makeshift tents ordered closed last October because of fire code violations. When the tents were ordered closed, OCC lost about 100 state prisoners that were generating cash. Now, the Sheriff's Office is finding it difficult to get state prisoners back into OCC. Since the dorm was constructed, the state has reduced the number of prisoners it is handing off to parish facilities in its own efforts to reduce costs. "We can only take what they give us," said Chief Deputy Jay Russell. According to a daily report, OCC is home to 278 inmates from the Department of Corrections. The Police Jury incurs the costs of holding the state prisoners, for which the state pays a daily stipend of $24.39 per inmate. Over the course of a year, if OCC housed 200 state prisoners, DOC would pay the Police Jury $1,780,470. That would cover costs and allow the Police Jury to pocket $592,996. There is another pod of state prisoners housed in Ouachita Parish. Some 169 state inmates are in the sheriff's custody as part of a work release program. But that money goes directly to the Sheriff's Office because the work release inmates are housed away from OCC. Col. Marc Mashaw said only the state determines which of their prisoners are allowed to be in work release. "Our office does not determine who is eligible for work release or not," he said. Mashaw said the state pays the sheriff's office less per DOC inmate if they are in work release. The Department of Corrections only pays $16.39 if the inmate is in a work release, or transitional work force program. Read More. |
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