Inmate bookings at the Sedgwick County KS Jail were down 9 percent last year, but it wasn’t clear whether the drop was caused by the county’s decision to charge cities for the use of the jail.
In Wichita, which last year ran up a bill of more than $3 million in jail fees that it has refused to pay, bookings were down 10.4 percent. In the six other cities that haven’t been paying the fees, bookings were down an average of 8.6 percent. In the nine cities that have paid the fees, bookings were up 7.7 percent …
[E]ven though the number of bookings has slowed, it was more than offset by an increase in the average length of stay of inmates. “It’s still growing,” Sheriff Bob Hinshaw said of the jail’s daily population. “It’s just not growing as fast.” Hinshaw said the number of bookings has slowed in recent years thanks to a new day-reporting center and other programs that offer alternatives to incarceration … Hinshaw said Sedgwick County continues to house nearly 300 of its inmates in other counties. Jail officials recently have been looking into the feasibility of using the recently closed Labette County Boot Camp or other unused state prison facilities as possible sources of extra jail beds. “We’re starting to run out of options,” Hinshaw said.
The story from the Wichita Eagle has a lot more information about the County’s dispute with its cities.
vericatrajkova County-City Issues, KS Sedgewick County, Kansas, Overcrowding
The battle is brewing between Sedgwick County, Kansas, and some of its cities, including Wichita.
The issue: funding for the Sedgwick County Jail. Last may, county commissioners adopted a resolution that established daily fees for city inmates, but not every city is paying up. That has the county forcing to consider court action.
“We’re not going to have a problem, if it is spread that way it ought to be,” said Park City Mayor Dee Stuart. “We just don’t think it is fair.” That’s why Park City is refusing to pay a county bill charging the city for inmates they’ve jailed at the Sedgwick County Jail. The bill now is more than $55,000. And Park City isn’t alone. Wichita is refusing to pay a tab of more than $3 million.
This year, the county started charging cities $50.24 per day per inmate. The county says the fee is necessary to pay for the increasingly busy facility. “Where the jail grows, so does everything else,” said Sedgwick County Commissioner Gwen Welshimer. Jail fees are not uncommon. In fact, Butler, Cowley, Sumner and Harvey counties all charge their cities to maintain their respective jails. But Sedgwick County has a different set-up because the legislature authorized a special one mill tax specifically designed to pay for the jail. A point the city of Wichita makes in a statement, saying Wichita residents already pay the tax. Over and over again, Wichita taxpayers are burdened with paying for a jail that is the county government’s responsibility.
vericatrajkova County-City Issues, KS Sedgewick County