One man’s burden is another man’s treasure.
With a burgeoning inmate population in Kentucky – a problem plaguing the entire nation – state officials are looking to pull out the stops to reduce the count of state prisoners and, thereby, the cost of corrections. But all those violators are keeping county jails – even county budgets – afloat.
That is certainly the case in Crittenden County, where a 172-bed jail houses around 210 on any given day, with about 120 of those being state inmates each earning Crittenden County Detention Center $31.34 per day. It has allowed the jail to be self-sufficient, operating without any taxpayer subsidies.
But Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Secretary John Tilley calls the overcrowding in county jails “perverse.” He is urging state lawmakers to look at making changes to statutes to reduce the Kentucky's inmate population of 24,000-plus by a third, a move that would save state government hundreds of millions of dollars, but could put more on the backs of local taxpayers.
Next week’s issue of The Crittenden Press will look at the changes Tilley and lawmakers are considering to reduce the cost of corrections and how those changes could affect Crittenden County. Find a copy at newsstands or subscribe to the online version by clicking here.
