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June 28, 2006
KY: State May Consider Takeover of Costly Local Jails
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
State may consider takeover of costly local jails, official says
By Roger Alford
Associated Press
FRANKFORT, Ky. ‹ A review could be completed by the end of next year that will look at the feasibility of the state taking over county jails, Corrections Commissioner John Rees says.
State Auditor Crit Luallen raised the issue in February when she released a report suggesting taxpayers are spending too much on individual county jails and recommending that Kentucky move toward a state-run system that would be less expensive.
"It's a very complex financial issue, and a complex political issue," Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, said yesterday. "We've got to deal with it in some way. Our prison populations are growing on a daily basis."
Rees said his office already has been talking with the University of Louisville about doing a study.
"We're going to look at it," Rees told a legislative committee on Monday. "We'll have a report available prior to the next budget cycle."
Rees said the study would examine financial and policy issues that would be involved in eliminating local oversight of county jails, now operated by an elected jailer.
Kentucky has more than 80 local jails that house about 17,000 inmates at a cost of about $244 million a year.
The February audit report said some local jails struggle to meet financial obligations and would operate more efficiently under state control.
"I'm not really in favor of it, because I believe there needs to be local involvement in the jail issue," Rees said. "I think there's really a benefit of having local involvement, local responsibility."
Daviess County Jailer David Osborne, who operates a 685-bed jail, said he welcomes the proposed study because it would help raise awareness about the financial burdens jails face.
Osborne said counties wrestle with the cost of running jails, and he said he doesn't expect state officials would be willing to assume the financial liabilities, which include not only personnel costs and operational expenses, but debt service on dozens of new jails.
"If the state takes over, how would they afford all the various expenses involved? Are they going to assume all that debt?" Osborne said.
The Kentucky County Judge-Executive Association has endorsed legislation that would lead to state operation of the jail system by 2010.
"The counties are spending a ton of money on jails that they could be spending on other things, like roads," Yonts said.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060628/NEWS01/60
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Posted by lois at June 28, 2006 09:26 PM