MO Bill to Reduce Prison Population Could Cost Counties
It’s projected to save Missouri taxpayers millions of dollars and reduce the prison population. But a bill passed by the state senate Friday could have just the opposite effect on counties. News from KSPR ABC.
“It’s not something we can just turn off. We have to continue to operate the jail.” Often well over capacity.
More than 100 extra inmates have been squeezed into the Greene County jail during its peak summer months. With a budget reducing annually the jail trims a little more fat every year.
“We had a food service company but now we’re using inmate labor to produce meals,” explains Major Kevin Spaulding with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.
In fact meals are the only place officials say you’ll find any meat. The budget has been cut to the bare bones. And a new bill passed by the senate and headed to the house could make the problem worse.
It would reduce the state prison population by 2,000 by giving that many less serious felons alternative sentences from drug court and probation to incarceration elsewhere.
Elsewhere is the Greene County Jail and county jails across the state.
“At some point you have to stop- there’s just none left,” says Spaulding, refering to the county’s financial crunch.
Legislators are already considering lowering the reimbursement rate to counties for housing state prisoners; now they may send more for less.
The state wants to add half the money it would save to the general revenue fund, then divide the rest between the Department of Corrections, Missouri’s circuit courts, and a fund set up to help county jails house inmates.
Uncategorized