County boarding out more inmates

Jefferson County ended 2009 with a bump in the number of inmates from Metro-Jefferson Public Safety Building held in other counties.

And that meant going over the $250,000 originally budgeted for those expenses of outboarding.

Through September, the county had sent inmates to other counties for a combined 1,138 days. In the last three months, it sent inmates to other counties for a combined 2,517 days.

"We usually have those times with higher populations at the end of the year," Sheriff John P. Burns said.

Each day an inmate spends in another county costs Jefferson County about $100, not including the transportation costs.

Through the first nine months of 2009, those costs totaled $136,468, while the last three months added $228,786. The total came to $365,254. The shortfall was covered by transferring money from other line items in the department's budget.

Through the year, the county brought in $33,690 through housing other counties' inmates.

These outboarding figures show a rebound to numbers from a few years ago. In 2006, the county paid out $328,605 and took in $41,978 from housing other counties' inmates, a net loss of $286,627. That trend continued in 2007, when it paid out $481,587 for housing and transportation costs and regained $39,827 through boarding, a net loss of $441,760.

In 2008, the county's jail population dropped. The county spent $47,152 on outboarding in 2008, with $10,319 for transportation, while it brought in $151,530 for housing other counties' inmates.

The winter's trend has continued into 2010, with the county outboarding inmates a combined 1,384 times through February, costing $139,057.

These statistics may restart calls for a jail expansion project, which was stymied by the lack of state funding last year.

"I certainly think we should be continuing to look at that," Mr. Burns said. "The longer we wait, the more it's going to cost us to add on."

The county would need 191 beds by 2030 to weather population spikes, a county consultant's report said in March 2008. The jail's capacity is 160 inmates, although the state Commission of Correction allows only 144 inmates at any one time for health and safety reasons.

A year ago, County Administrator Robert F. Hagemann III told county legislators it would cost at least $1.8 million annually for 15 years to follow the state commission's recommendation and expand the jail by 120 cells. If the jail was expanded based on the consultant's estimate, Mr. Hagemann said, it would cost at least $800,070 per year for 15 years.

While cost remains a major hurdle, members of the legislature's ad hoc jail committee said the jail expansion still may be a necessity.

"We all know crime isn't going to be zero — it isn't going away," said Legislator Robert J. Thomas, R-Glen Park. "I always said we are going to have to do it sooner or later."

Some legislators said the numbers show it's important to pursue the expansion.

"It backs up what the committee determined last year," Chairman Michael J. Docteur, R-Cape Vincent, said. "How do we work through that issue until outside funding comes available?"

One thing that would ease the problem, he said, would be a change in state law to allow state correctional facilities to accept sentenced county inmates.

"Everyone is building new jails and expanding and the state has jail space available," he said. "We have to have the county governments work together with state government."