Counties join suit over jail expenses

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August 13, 2008

By AMBER DILLEY and GINA KINSLOW The Glasgow Daily Times Wed Aug 13, 2008, 11:39 AM CDT

GLASGOW — Area judge-executives are among several from across the state who are suing Gov. Steve Beshear’s finance administration, Justice Cabinet and the general assembly.

The lawsuit is asking the court to require the state to pay for the time that some inmates spend in county jails.

Currently, the counties must shoulder the expenses of housing defendants facing state charges during trials. The state assumes financial responsibility if the person is sentenced by either paying the county jail for housing the inmate or moving the prisoner to a state jail.

Barren County Judge-Executive Davie Greer said counties want the state to pay from the time the inmates are found guilty and not wait until sentencing.

“For example,” said Greer, “If you were arrested on a Monday and you’re there for a month, that’s 30 days the county has to pay,” Greer said. “When they go to trial on Aug. 15 and aren’t sentenced until Oct. 15, that’s another two months we’re still paying for them. They don’t become a state inmate until the sentencing date and that’s when the state starts paying.”

Metcalfe County magistrates adopted a resolution Tuesday supporting joint litigation with the Kentucky County Judge Executives’ Association regarding the jail deficit.

Greer said that the County judge-executives aren’t suing for a specific amount of money.

“We just want the state to start paying for from when the inmates are found guilty,” Greer said. “This is just to bring this to the state’s attention.”

Greer said that the Barren County Correctional Center currently houses 58 state inmates at a cost of $31.34 a day. If the county holds a state inmate for 60 days, it is out $1,880.40 – an amount county judge-executives think the state should be paying.

Metcalfe County is one of several counties that does not operate a jail. Instead, it contracts with Barren and Adair counties to house its inmates. Male and female inmates are housed in Barren and Adair counties, while juvenile inmates are housed at Adair County.

“It is not as big of a issue to our county as it is to some of these other counties who are pouring all of their money into the jails,” said Metcalfe County Judge-Executive Greg Wilson.

Metcalfe County has an annual jail budget of about $150,000.

Although it is a big expense for the county, Wilson said it isn’t as expensive as operating a jail.

“We don’t want a jail because they just drain you financially. It’s not a profitable thing,” he said. “We don’t have enough inmates. It’s just something that Metcalfe County does not need.”

Wilson told magistrates he thinks there are only one or two county jails in the state making a profit.

“The ones that have federal prisoners are the ones who are making it pretty much,” he said.

Wilson presented the resolution to magistrates for their approval because he said he understands what the other counties are going through.

This is not the first time the KCJEA has filed a lawsuit regarding the jail deficit.

“I think back in the 1980s they won a case,” Wilson said. “Tommy Turner, when he was judge in LaRue County, and Vince Lane, when he was judge in Hart County, and they won a case back in 1986 or 1987. There hasn’t been anything done on it since then.

“The judges agreed about a year ago that they needed to file suit again and try to get some of this money back if they could.”

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