Economy takes toll on county jail fund

New county jails opening throughout Kansas in recent years are putting a strain on Allen County taxpayers.
In 2004 when the $2.8 million Allen County jail was built with revenue bond funding, the intention was to pay for the construction by housing out-of-county criminals at a rate of $40 per day per inmate.
But with the expansion of the Anderson, Neosho and Wilson County jails coupled with tight county budgets, Allen County Sheriff Thomas Williams has watched those dollars trickle away.
With yearly bond obligations hovering around $220,000 through 2023, a lack of out-of-county inmates has created a gap between dollars coming in from other counties, the intended means of bond payments for the 76-bed facility.
“That’s based mainly on the economy. Counties just don’t want to pay for it,” Williams said.
At the end of August, the jail had brought in $74,413.52, or 33 percent of the $222,508 scheduled bond payment for 2011.
Joni Tucker, Allen County Jail supervisor, said the facility regularly houses inmates for Woodson, Linn, Miami and Franklin counties, as well as serves as a temporary holding facility for some Department of Corrections inmates.
Currently, 14 of the 34 inmates housed at the jail are from outside of the county.
Since taking the reins as sheriff in 2005, Williams has had a policy of not housing criminals from metropolitan areas like Sedgwick and Johnson counties.
“I’ve been in this business long enough to realize that if you house a population that is foreign to the locale that you’re sending them to, it doesn’t work well because then family and friends start to filter in and I don’t want that filtering into our community,” Williams said. “It’s that big city mentality versus a small rural mentality. What might go in a big city, an officer might ignore it, ain’t going to fly here. It’s not fair to our community or those people who might transplant here.”
Though he agrees with the William’s rationale of excluding Johnson and Sedgwick counties from utilizing the Allen County jail, the recent trend might force the sheriff and the county commission to review the policy, County Commissioner Gary McIntosh said.
“We’ve not had a formal review of the policy with all of the commissioners, but that would be my suggestion,” he said. “If we didn’t have to (review the policy) we probably shouldn’t. But if we need to, then we have to do what we have to do.”
But it might not make much difference. Currently, Johnson County doesn’t have a single inmate housed outside of its own facilities.
“Even with just the bed space we have at our current facilities we are able to house everyone we have,” said Deputy Tom Erickson of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department, referring to the 688 inmates living within Johnson County’s 823-capacity jail. “We don’t have any inmates housed out of the county.”
And when a new Olathe facility opens in mid-2012, the chance of having overflow will be even less, he said.
Sedgwick County jails, on the other hand, are brimming with criminals.
“We are always more than packed, pretty full,” said Major Glenn Kurtz of the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department, citing the 297 Sedgwick County inmates serving sentences in other counties’ facilities.
Although his department is always looking for places to house inmates, Kurtz said for economic reasons, they wouldn’t use Allen County’s facilities even if they were made available.
“We’ll work with most counties that will sign our contract and we’ll accept $30 a day,” he said. The Allen County jail’s asking price of $40 per day takes Sedgwick County inmates out of the running, Kurtz added.
But Williams said he is willing to cut deals to bring more inmates in, pointing to the $35 per day per inmate deal arranged with Franklin and Miami counties.
“It’s like anything else,” he said. “We’re in competition. It’s like any other business that’s trying to get more revenue. We’ve got to compete with other people.”
Because of the trend of fewer out of county inmates coming into Allen County, McIntosh said the funding method will be reviewed at an upcoming commissioners meeting.
“We have no choice,” he said. “We need to have a review and a closer look” at how the jail is being funded.