Pubdate: Wed, 09 Apr 2003
Source: Gleaner, The (Henderson, KY)
Copyright: 2003 The E.W. Scripps Co
Contact:  http://www.thegleaner.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1634
Note: Requires 'Letter to editor' in the subject line of e-mail
Author: Frank Boyett
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

OFFICIAL OFFERS DIRE JAIL OUTLOOK

Jail officials told Henderson Fiscal Court on Tuesday that decreasing 
revenues and increasing costs threaten to bankrupt the county if current 
trends continue.

"This facility could break this county" in the next five to 10 years if no 
action is taken, said Col. Ron Herrington, who is second in command at the 
Henderson County Detention Center. "We're headed for some tough times."

The jail was built nearly a decade ago on the premise that housing state 
prisoners would make it self-supporting. But Herrington told the court that 
a number of factors are converging to decrease the number of state prisoners.

In the year 2000, he said, the jail averaged 184 state prisoners, for which 
the county is paid about $27 a day. Currently, he said, there are 87 state 
prisoners.

Local inmates, for which the county pays the entire cost, averaged 108 in 
2000 but are now at 171, he said.

"Our paying revenue is going straight down and our county inmates are going 
up," Herrington said.

A number of other factors play into the equation, Herrington said, but the 
bottom line is that drug cases -- particularly those involving 
methamphetamine -- are clogging up the local court system and the local jail.

"This is a symptom of the drug problem in this county," said public 
defender Greg Sutton. "The meth problem is just covering us up."

Commonwealth Attorney Bill Markwell said probably 75 percent of the local 
criminal caseload is somehow drug related. Most of those charged for drug 
crimes spend probably 190 days in jail before they are sentenced and become 
state inmates, he said.

Markwell said his office and the office of Circuit Judge Steve Hayden are 
attempting to set up a special drug court, which could cut that down to 30 
days or less.

"We are aware of the problem and are taking some steps to assist," Markwell 
said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom