Tough economic times and reduced space create the perfect storm of logjam.
By Kevin Cummings
Chattanooga Times Free Press
GEORGIA — State prisoners housed in county jails are an especially costly burden during this economic recession, according to local authorities.
Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers said the number of state prisoners staying longer in his county’s jail has been on the rise in the last six months.
The state is slowing down prisoner pickup to pass the cost on to counties, he said. But the sheriff also said he understands the prison system has space and financial constraints.
“We’ve been calling (the Department of Corrections) almost every day to try and get them to pick up prisoners,” Sheriff Summers said. “We are at the mercy of the state prison system. It’s a tremendous problem and creates a tremendous burden for us.”
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sharmelle Brooks says the prisoner backlog issue will be addressed when 2,000 new state prison beds come on line this year.
Sheriff Summers said Wednesday there were 30 state prisoners in the Catoosa jail awaiting transfer.
Dade County Sheriff Patrick Cannon said Department of Corrections has been speedy about picking up the few state prisoners ever held in the much smaller Dade County Jail.
Maj. John Gibson with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Department said the number of prisoners in the Dalton jail awaiting transfer is up from last year.
“It’s the combination of a perfect storm,” Maj. Gibson said, noting that tough economic times have forced the state to close some facilities and that reduced available space, thus delaying prisoner transport.
He estimated on Wednesday that the Whitfield County Detention Center was housing 90 state prisoners. Georgia pays Whitfield County $22 per day to care for each of those prisoners -- $11 less than it costs the county to keep them, he said.
Mrs. Brooks said $22 per day is the average rate the state pays counties for housing state prisoners.
In 2008, state Sen. Johnny Grant, R-Milledgeville, sponsored a bill that would have raised the minimum the state pays for housing state prisoners from $7.50 to $30. The legislation was eventually rolled into a House bill, which Gov. Sonny Perdue vetoed.
Sen. Grant said the governor didn’t think the per diem should be in Georgia law, but should be handled in the budget from year to year in case of a financial fallout, like this year. The state is trying to plug a $2 billion shortfall in the fiscal year that ends June 30.
“We’re pushing more toward timely pickup of inmates rather than an increase in jail subsidies,” Sen. Grant said. “Jail subsidy is still an issue for county sheriffs, but sometimes you have to pick your fights. They realize during a tough budgetary time that that’s probably going to fall on deaf ears.”
Copyright 2009 Chattanooga Publishing Company