More than 30 state prison inmates have been transferred to the Cowley County Jail over the past month as part of a contract between the county and the Kansas Dept. Corrections.
The inmates are housed separately from jail inmates in two pods at the jail. Five new correctional officers were hired to oversee the new inmates, which started arriving July 1.
“We have the space,” Cowley County Sheriff Don Read said Monday. “So it’s something we can do to help maintain our very good relationship with the Dept. of Corrections.”
Read said the contract is part of the state’s way of dealing with overcrowding and lack of prison space. The county is paid $35 per inmate per day.
On Monday, 34 state inmates were in the custody of the county jail. The contract calls for the county to accommodate as many as 50.
The current total population of the jail is 125 and total capacity is roughly 170.
For now, all the inmates transferred to Winfield are of medium or minimum supervision status. Though Read said it is possible that the jail could receive some maximum-security inmates.
The contract – should the county house 50 inmates everyday – would generate $638,750 a year. Expenditures have been estimated at $332,206. Any revenue made beyond the cost of expenses will be placed in the county’s capital-improvement fund.
Care and housing costs for the inmates are budgeted for separately from the jail and paid for from the newly created Jail Enterprise Fund.
Money from the county’s general fund was used to start the enterprise fund, but it will be reimbursed using funds paid through the contract, Read said.