The Arkansas Department of Correction owed more than $14 million to county jails last year in reimbursements for holding the state's backlogged inmates -- a more than 50 percent decrease from 2015.
For decades the department has reimbursed county jails for holding the state's overflow of inmates. In 2001 the state legislature increase the reimbursement rate of $25 per inmate per day to $28. In 2015 that amount was raised to $30; that year the amount paid back to counties peaked at $30 million, when on average about 2,600 state inmates were languishing in county lockups.
As of last week, however, that figure has decreased to just more than 1,000 thanks in part to the governor's initiative that opened more prison beds, expanded re-entry programs, and improved parole services aimed at curbing recidivism rates.
But despite the millions of dollars paid out by the state government every year, for many county jails the reimbursement comes nowhere close to the actual costs of housing the inmate overflow.
In Pulaski County, for instance, the county receives the $30 per inmate per day rate while having to pay $63.26 per inmate per day. With about 100,000 bed spaces used for inmate overflow in 2016, the discrepancy created about a $3 million deficit -- 11 percent of the jail's 2016 budget -- covered by Pulaski County taxpayers.
In Washington County, where the cost is $67 per inmate per day, the reimbursement rate shortfall created a $1.2 million deficit over the year -- 8 percent of the jail's 2016 budget.
"It's $1.2 million that we're going to have to get from the taxpayers of Washington County," said Steve Whitmill, the jail's captain of detention administration.
A study released by the Arkansas Legislative Audit last fall revealed an average cost to counties of $45.66 per day among 15 counties the study sampled.
"It's really just what we could afford," said Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. "It was the least we could do if we were going to occupy that much of their space. Thirty dollars was what we had in the budget to do."
Costs are lower, however, in some other areas of the state. Crawford County reported paying $38 a day to house inmates in its new 307-bed jail opened in December 2015. In its previous 88-bed facility, the state's backlogged inmates closed off the facility from accepting misdemeanor offenders.
"We haven't housed a misdemeanor, up until now, since about 2006," Crawford County Sheriff Ron Brown said. "We just hadn't had room."
In rare occasions, however, some rural counties with smaller facilities have inmate costs that dip below the reimbursement rate, Brown said.
"In some jails, a certain number of inmates offsets the cost of your facility. Every jail is different in Arkansas," Brown said. "Some jails in low-crime areas like to see the state inmates, because that's a source of anticipated revenue, whereas other facilities -- like mine -- I wish they'd take all mine."
In Dumas, for instance, a town of about 4,500, the city jail can hold 35 prisoners, and at any given time about three of them are the state's, according to Police Chief Everett Cox. With a smaller overheard, and a staff of just two jailers per shift, he spends about $25 per inmate per day, receiving a $5 net gain per day for every state inmate held.
Last year, the Dumas jail received $13,000 in compensation from the state, an amount one administrator called "a drop in the bucket."
As jail expenses rose in tandem with jail standards, and as inflation rates reduced the spending power of the dollar, the reimbursement rate remained at $28 for 14 years, before it was adjusted in 2015.
"There certainly have been inflation in costs," Hutchinson said. "It'd probably be a lot higher if we adjusted it for inflation every year."
According to Mike Godfrey, president of the Arkansas Sheriffs' Association, increases in jail standards -- like nutritional quality of meals, clothing, and increasingly competitive salaries for jailers -- have driven up operating costs as the reimbursement rate stayed steady.
"Jail expenses go up every year, along with jail standards," Godfrey said. Salary increases "have been a big deal to keep qualified employees. It's hard to find people that are qualified and have the passion to do it for the money that they receive."
This week, the Sheriffs' Association will hold its winter convention in Little Rock, where it will itemize a list of legislative priorities, like pushing again for a higher reimbursement rate.
"We want to get our jails reimbursed for everything that we're doing, because that is county money that they're having to spend to make up the difference," Godfrey said. "We want to put the burden where it should be."
Metro on 01/30/2017