December 23, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Although anticipated, the costs of housing DeKalb County inmates in other counties has become expensive and that cost is growing.
During Thursday night’s committee meeting of the whole, Sheriff Patrick Ray updated the county commission on the expense to date as requested.
“For the last two years we have been very lucky. We have either stayed with that (budget) or if we didn’t, I have pulled money from somewhere else (within budget) to cover it so we would not have to come back for more money to come out of the general fund,” said Sheriff Ray.
This year, expenditures for housing inmates out of the county have exceeded the budgeted allocation of $60,000 for the year 2024-25. According to Sheriff Ray, the total cost from July 1, 2024 through December 17, 2024 is $129,304 with more December bills coming and from that $60,000 allocation also comes the expenses ($3,086 to date) for interpreters, heating and air services and the fire alarm system at the jail, and charges for advertising. This also includes community probation ankle monitoring fees but does not take into account the back-and-forth inmate transportation costs for an officer, vehicles, tires, oil changes, etc.
Adding to the financial concerns are the increased inmate medical costs. Already $89,990 has been paid out from the $100,000 budgeted line item for medical and dental services for 2024-25. Sheriff Ray explained that outstanding medical bills on hand as of Thursday, December 19 are $228, 653 (without any reductions) with many more medical bills to come in. “The best reduction we could expect to get is 40%,” he said.
Although some inmates have private insurance or TennCare others don’t which adds to the county’s financial woes.
“I was notified Wednesday from a medical company that we have an inmate in jail that will be getting $2,300 worth of medication every month. It’s a high dollar med for a certain disease he has and there’s probably no way of him getting out (jail) anytime soon,” he explained.
Sheriff Ray gave another example for an uptick in medical costs.
“Many times, when we send an inmate to another county as soon as they get sick they (other county) take them to the emergency room whereas with inmates in this county, if they need a medical furlough, we may be able to get one for them as recommended by our nurse and approved by the judge,” said Sheriff Ray.
Since July 1, 2024 the county has been paying Robertson, Smith, Cannon, Putnam, and Bedford counties for housing local prisoners and although in the past a few counties have kept inmates at no charge, Sheriff Ray said he will no longer ask any county to continue doing that.
“I will not call another county and say hey, can you house our inmates, for $20,000 a month, for nothing. That’s not right for their taxpayers to do that. The favors I pull are those that if we have somebody that can’t go in our jail I beg somebody to house them. If it were not for Bedford and Putnam County we would be in a pickle,” said Sheriff Ray.
During Monday Night’s regular monthly meeting (December 23), the county commission will consider adopting a budget amendment for $100,000 from the fund balance of the general fund to help cover the overage. The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the county complex.
After receiving news in August 2023, from the Tennessee Corrections Institute that the number of state certifiable beds at the DeKalb County Jail had to be reduced from 102 to 52. Sheriff Ray has been sending some inmates to other counties willing to take them for a daily fee.
The TCI Board of Control met Wednesday, December 4, 2024 in Nashville and voted to continue certification of the DeKalb County Jail for another year under a plan of action upon the recommendation of TCI Deputy Director Bob Bass. The facility still has only 52 certifiable beds for male inmates.
A “plan of action” allows a facility to maintain a certified status after failing to meet all minimum standards while demonstrating to the TCI Board of Control that the facility is making measurable progress over a period of time (months or years) to rectify deficiencies found during inspection.
The DeKalb County Jail Committee will meet again with Bass on January 6 to discuss the county’s next move on possibly building a new jail facility.