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| Cost of Kentucky Prisoner Program Questioned |
| By Associated Press/Henderson Gleaner |
| Published: 01/02/2003 |
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Some criminal justice officials and politicians are questioning whether Kentucky should continue to sink millions of dollars into housing state prisoners in local jails. About 4,200 state inmates are being held in county jails. For this the state is paying to 64 counties about $50 million a year, an all-time high, said Steve Berry, director of local facilities for the state Department of Corrections. About $1.5 million of that money will go to the Henderson County Detention Center, which currently has about 140 state inmates. 'We're down right now,' said Amy Nelson, who coordinates the state and federal prisoner program at the local jail. She noted the jail, which has a capacity of 296 inmates, currently holds another 31 federal prisoners. The $50 million paid by the state includes the $28 daily housing rate per inmate, plus medical and transportation costs and $1.25 a day for each inmate serving on a work crew. But the growing number of state prisoners in county jails -- one-fourth of the total prison population of about 16,500 -- and the rapid expansion of jails to house those inmates are causing some to ask whether there are cheaper and more efficient ways to supervise nonviolent offenders. 'Build them and they will come,' said state Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, of the growing number of inmates in local jails. 'We have too many people in jail and prison. We need to rethink that policy.' State Rep. Rob Wilkey, D-Franklin, sponsored the 1991 bill that requires most Class D felony offenders -- people convicted of nonviolent, less serious offenses and sentenced to one to five years -- to serve their terms in county jails. Wilkey said he doesn't believe just building jails causes them to fill. But he said current budget pressures may force the state to come up with more creative ways to supervise nonviolent offenders in the community rather than putting them behind bars. 'I do think there is a better, cheaper, more humane and more efficient way to house people outside of incarceration,' Wilkey said. Meanwhile, state corrections officials are warning counties against further jail expansion if they plan to pay off construction loans and bond issues by housing state inmates. The state has 13,800 jail beds, with 750 more under construction in counties including Boone, Whitley, Harlan, Knott, Carter and Simpson. The increase in jail beds is outpacing the supply of inmates eligible to serve their sentences in jails. 'We're trying to caution people,' Berry said. 'We have additional beds being built, but we may not be able to fill some of those.' The state has no power to order counties to stop building jails. But Berry told the state Criminal Justice Council in September that his department is considering seeking a change in state law that would require counties to show the need before expanding jails. Wilkey, a member of the council, said that might be a good idea. But he said the state shouldn't cut off the current inmate supply because in past years corrections officials had encouraged counties to expand jails to ease prison crowding. 'You'd completely dry up that source of revenue for those counties, and they have to pay for those jails,' Wilkey said. In 2000, lawmakers changed the law to also allow some Class C felony offenders -- sentenced to five to 10 years for nonviolent offenses -- to serve their sentences in county jails. Like the 1991 law, that bill was backed by the Kentucky Jailers' Association. Some officials say it may be time to re-evaluate the 1991 and the 2000 laws. They question whether it's the best use of state money under an increasingly tight budget, and whether inmates at jails are getting the rehabilitation and treatment they need. 'They're sending almost $50 million a year to local jails, almost $1 million a week,' said Ernie Lewis, head of the state public defender's office. 'At a time of fiscal crisis, I don't know how much longer they can keep going.' |
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