Costs to County Mounts for Housing Prisoners Elsewhere

December 22, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Its been four months since the county was forced to cut the certifiable bed capacity of the DeKalb County Jail in half from 102 to 52 and since that time many prisoners have been relocated to other jails across the mid-state. And while the county continues to ponder what and where to build in terms of a new jail or judicial center, the costs to the county of sending these inmates off to other places continues to rise.

During a committee meeting of the whole Thursday night, Sheriff Patrick Ray updated members of the county commission on where these prisoners are going and how much it is costing to keep them there.

As of Wednesday, December 20, Sheriff Ray said that the DeKalb County Jail held a total of 58 men and three women and that nine men and nine women were being housed elsewhere including Deberry as well as the Robertson, White, Hamilton, Van Buren, Smith, and Warren County jails.

“We are a little bit over on our bed count,” said Sheriff Ray. We are housing inmates in Deberry, which is a state facility for somebody (inmate) who has medical problems. We have them in Robertson, White, Hamilton, Van Buren, Smith and Warren County. Until a jail is constructed, we don’t have any cells here now where we can put just one or two inmates in. Our smallest cell is 10 inmates, so we have to do some moving (prisoners) around. We don’t house anybody here that has murder charges or anything like that or someone who is an escape risk,” said Sheriff Ray.

To date from July 1, 2023, Sheriff Ray said the county has spent $39,923 (mostly since September) to house prisoners elsewhere and a bill for $451 remains to be paid. “With that and all the bills we already have (September, October, and November), we should be today at 46.15% of budget. We don’t have December’s bills yet. With that and other expenses we are at 75.17% of the $60,000 budgeted for this and it will eventually go over budget. Other expenses that have to be paid from this line item include maintenance for appliances, plumbing costs, etc,” said Sheriff Ray.

“We also have some inmates on ankle monitors which costs $7.00 per day. We had nine prisoners on ankle monitors yesterday (Wednesday). The judge is trying to make the defendants pay for them but that costs comes back to the county if the inmate pulls off and damages the ankle monitor or throws it away. That cost is $400 for every one (ankle monitor) that we lose,” said Sheriff Ray.

Since January 1, 2023, Sheriff Ray explained that a total of 1,132 people have been booked into the DeKalb County Jail including 569 since July 1, 2023.

Sheriff Ray provided a breakdown of the cost per day per inmate to the county for those being housed at other facilities.

The cost of transporting the prisoners is based on the federal rate for mileage of 65.5 cents per mile.

*6 males in Robertson County Jail- $55.40 per day, 184 miles round trip

*2 females and 1 male in White County Jail- $50 per day, 42 miles round trip

*1 female in Smith County Jail-$44 per day, 68 miles round trip

*3 females in Lincoln County Jail- No charge (by agreement), 164 miles round trip

*1 female in Hamilton County Jail- No charge (by agreement), 196 miles round trip

*1 male in Van Buren County Jail- (Charge to be determined), 68 miles round trip

*2 females and 1 male in Warren County Jail- No charge (by agreement), 42 miles round trip

*1 male in Deberry- No charge (state facility)

According to Sheriff Ray the transport cost escalates every time prisoners have to be brought back and forth to court from where they are housed.

“This is us carrying an inmate to wherever we are carrying them, and it can be multiple times for court. We have to take them to court and then bring them back. If they later bond out, we have to get them again because they have to bond out through our jail. They can’t bond out through another jail,” said Sheriff Ray.

Meanwhile, County Mayor Matt Adcock said the county continues to look for suitable sites on which to build a new jail or judicial center.

Although the jail committee, which is made up of the entire county commission, voted in November to recommend building a judicial center when a site and a funding mechanism are determined, there has been no movement since.

Several sites have been under consideration including a potential location on Bright Hill Road belonging to the James Ed Rice family. County Mayor Adcock said the Rice family has been contacted but its not yet known if they are willing to sell. Adcock said the site has pros and cons. The land is flat but its on a narrow road (Bright Hill Road) and near Smithville Elementary School.

Meanwhile, the search for sites goes on.

December 21, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Both the DCHS Tigers and Lady Tigers mounted come from behind wins in their respective tournaments Wednesday.

The Tigers made their debut in the Adidas Shootout at Murfreesboro Riverdale where they defeated Sipsey Valley High 45 to 42 while the Lady Tigers recovered from their 47-45 Tuesday loss to York Institute to defeat Grace Christian 53 to 51 in the Frank’s Christmas Shootout at White County High School

The Tigers improve to 7-5 while the Lady Tigers are 7-6.

In the boys game Wednesday, the Tigers trailed Sipsey Valley High 14 to 9 after the 1st period, 28 to 20 at halftime, and 37 to 34 by the end of the 3rd period. In the 4th period, the Tigers outscored their opponent 11 to 5 in a come from behind 45 to 42 finish.

Conner Close led the Tigers in scoring with 17 followed by Dallas Kirby 15, Jordan Parker-5, Seth Fuson and Alex Antoniak each with 3 and Jon Hendrix 2.

The Tigers will meet Loretto in the shootout on Friday, December 22 at 2:30 p.m. at Murfreesboro Riverdale High School

Meanwhile, in Sparta the Lady Tigers rallied to defeat Grace Christian 53 to 51 in the Frank’s Christmas Shootout.

The Lady Tigers trailed 12 to 8 after the 1st period, 25 to 15 at halftime, and 35 to 28 after the 3rd period. In the 4th period, DC outscored GC 25 to 16 for a 53 to 51 come from behind victory.

Avery Agee led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 20 followed by Ella Van Vranken with 19, Tess Barton 10, and Chloe VanVranken with 4.

The Lady Tigers will meet South Gibson Thursday, December 21 at 12:30 p.m. in the Frank’s Shootout in Sparta.

December 20, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department D.A.R.E. Program has been presented a $500 donation from Bruce Schaffer and Brian Clark with the Mountain Harbour Property Owners Association (POA).

The Mountain Harbour POA residential golf and lakefront community is located on the eastern end of Center Hill Lake adjacent to the former Riverwatch Golf Course.

DeKalb Sheriff’s Department D.A.R.E. Officers Billy Tiner and Joseph Carroll along with Sheriff Patrick Ray accepted the donation and expressed their sincere appreciation to Mountain Harbour POA for their continued support of the DeKalb County D.A.R.E. Program. “This donation was specifically earmarked for D.A.R.E. Program and will be used to purchase D.A.R.E. workbooks and t-shirts for the students.,” said Sheriff Ray.

D.A.R.E is an excellent opportunity for officers to build positive relationships with the youth of our community. It provides children the opportunity to learn and practice positive decision-making skills to lead safe and healthy lives. Students will learn to use the Dare decision making model to help them navigate difficult or uncomfortable situations or challenges they may face in life.

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