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| Ohio County, W.V. Jail Bill Rising |
| By Wheeling News-Register |
| Published: 10/10/2003 |
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Ohio County, W.V. is on track to spend more than a million dollars this fiscal year to house prisoners in the Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville. The first two months of the fiscal year, which began in July, have resulted in the county having to fork over more than $90,000 each month for its jail bill. This past spring the bills fluctuated from a low of $60,525 in April to a high of $78,885 in June, but have progressively increased since April's low bill. Last fiscal year saw the biggest bill in the fall with a November bill of $113,000. If the costs continue to increase, the county could spend more than it budgeted for the jail bill this fiscal year, which is $1.067 million. That's what happened last fiscal year when the original budgeted amount of $822,000 had to be augmented by another $210,000 from county contingency funds to pay a jail bill for the year of $1.027 million. The county must pay the West Virginia Department of Corrections $45 per day for every person arrested in the county who is housed at the Northern Regional Jail. Steven Canterbury, executive director of the state's Regional Jail Authority, said that inmates awaiting trial or those convicted of misdemeanors and serving jail time are the financial responsibility of the county. Those who are convicted of felonies are sentenced to state prison and from that point the state picks up the tab. Canterbury said one way to reduce a county's jail bill is have the circuit court judges embrace sentences that provide an alternative to jail time. Such alternatives include work release and home confinement. He pointed out that such alternative sentencing plans also provide various counseling and rehabilitation programs to address the underlying causes of the criminal behavior. Ohio County, as well as Brooke and Hancock counties, have use of the Lee Day Report Center, where inmates serving alternative sentencing come to report in and/or attend various rehabilitation programs. Canterbury noted that Brooke and Hancock counties appear to utilize alternative sentencing more than Ohio County. Other than finding convicted defendants alternatives to jail time, Canterbury said he doesn't know what else could be done to lower or keep down the cost of a county's jail bill. |
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