Monongalia County WV wants a new Regional Jail in the region, according to the State Journal.
Commissioners have written a letter to the regional jail authority, requesting that it put a new regional jail in the area. Inmates are currently taken to the North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County.
Monongalia county commissioners believe the project would also benefit Harrison, Marion, Taylor, Preston Counties. Harrison and Marion Counties also take prisoners to the North Central Regional Jail, while Taylor and Preston Counties take inmates to the Tygart Valley Regional Jail in Randolph County. “Our travel time right now is an hour and 10 to 15 minutes one way. It would cut out travel time down to 30 to 35 minutes one way, so we were looking at travel time and expenses,” said Monongalia County Commissioner Bob Bell.
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In West Virginia a similar regional center is being discussed as an alternative to the Regional Jail system that many counties find too costly.
Saying the facility could save on bills that cost Jefferson County about $1.4 million annually, county officials are studying the possibility of establishing an alternative to sending inmates to Eastern Regional Jail in Martinsburg, W.Va. Referred to as a “day report center,” these facilities offer a chance for nonviolent offenders to serve their sentences through a program that offers GED training, anger management and alcohol- and drug-abuse counseling, Jefferson County Commissioner Dale Manuel said … Jefferson County officials see two advantages to a day report center – saving on costly Eastern Regional Jail fees, which have been averaging roughly $120,000 a month, and allowing inmates to start on a positive path.
Making the center a regional affair is seen as valuable.
Manuel said the most successful day report centers have been multi-county facilities, and Commission President Frances Morgan agreed to contact the Berkeley County Commission to determine if they would be interested in sharing a facility with Jefferson County. Berkeley County officials said last year that their Eastern Regional Jail bill was approaching $3 million, and they talked about ways to save on jail costs.
More details in The Herald-Mail .
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