By Aurelio Sanchez
Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
SANDOVAL COUNTY, NM — Forty-eight more inmates from the overcrowded Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center were transferred to the Sandoval County jail this week, which will help the jail’s financial situation, a county spokesman said.
Bernalillo County is paying Sandoval County $62 per prisoner per day to house the prisoners, and the influx of 96 prisoners since June 7 from the Bernalillo County jail will generate $2.1 million annually. The Bernalillo County Commission has approved up to $6.8 million for the current fiscal year to transfer up to 300 prisoners to the Sandoval County jail and other jails in the state.
If the full complement of 176 prisoners is delivered to Sandoval County, it could generate up to $3.9 million, or almost half of the overall $8.9 million corrections operating budget, county spokesman Sidney Hill said this week.
“That’s considerably better than if Sandoval taxpayers had to foot the entire $9 million corrections bill,” Hill said.
The financial picture could improve further, with the prospect of 80 federal prisoners returning to the jail if the U.S. Marshals Service decides to do business again with Sandoval County, he said.
“We haven’t heard anything,” Hill said about the federal agency’s intentions.
The Marshals Service had been paying Sandoval County about $3.9 million annually to house 160 federal prisoners before it pulled its inmate population in early 2012, amid concerns about three inmate suicides at the jail, two of them federal prisoners.
County corrections officials have since been working with the Marshals Service to improve mental health services and comply with federal corrections standards, Hill said.
To handle the increased workload since June 7, the county has added 13 correctional officers, and may hire more, Hill said. The jail currently has 97 guards, he said. If the federal inmates return, the county expects to have up to 120 corrections officers, he said.
The county is recruiting and posting job openings for the jail, he said. For information, go to www.sandovalcounty. com and click on County Jobs.