14 News, The Tri-State's News and Weather Leader-KY State Inmates In County Jails Costing Taxpayers?
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New Media Producer: Kerry Corum
Are Kentucky taxpayers paying too much to house state inmates in county jails? Kentucky's state auditor thinks so.
One solution that's been offered is, to have the Commonwealth take control of all county jails, but Daviess County officials aren't thrilled with the idea.
About 36-percent of the beds in most county jails are filled with state inmates, but the state only pays 32-percent of the cost of housing those inmates.
But Daviess County's jail, along with seven others, are actually profitable because 50-percent of its population are state inmates who bring in reimbursement checks.
Daviess County's jailer, David Osborne, hopes more attention will spur better solutions to the problem. "People realize, and legislators realize, how expensive it is to run the jails, maybe the state will step-up and bear more of the cost."
Daviess County Judge-Executive Reid Hare says, "For the taxpayer, probably for him in the long run, it's cheaper the way the system is right now."
The Henderson County jailer says his facility is also near breaking even. Both he and Daviess County's jailer believe any plans for a state takeover will face a long, uphill battle.
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