By Tim Hudson
Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise
BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — Washington County Correctional Facilities officials say that, due to some smart planning, Oklahoma’s recent decision to pull inmates from county jails will not affect the local operation.
According to reports published Thursday by The Oklahoman, the state’s Department of Corrections is pulling DOC inmates from county jails due to a lack of funding. Reports indicate the department is attempting to acquire additional funds through the legislative process.
The move is impacting county jails that have contracts with the DOC to house the inmates — but that isn’t a concern for Washington County, Undersheriff Steve Johnson told the E-E on Thursday.
“No Department of Corrections money is budgeted for us, so it’s not going to really effect us,” Johnson said. “We don’t have a contract with DOC, so it’s not been included in the budget.
“We did receive money from the DOC when we housed their prisoners,” he said, estimating that the state had housed around 40 prisoners a month in the jail. “But it was always used as an account and not a budget item.”
Currently, the local jail has “about three or four” inmates housed from the state, Johnson said Thursday.
“It has been a dramatic difference, but it’s good for us because now we have more space for our own prisoners,” he said. “We’ve always been very frugal with that money and we know that before long it will probably slow to just a trickle.”