How Much is That Inmate in the Slammer?
By: Mr. Wilson on
March 15, 2011
The new Lancaster County jail is already in trouble (we knew that) and it hasn't even opened. This paragraph from a Journal Star piece really caught my eye:
Lancaster County spends $78 per day to house and feed each prisoner in the jail at 10th and J streets and $45 per day to keep a prisoner in another county when Lincoln's jail is full, Corrections Director Mike Thurber said.Does that mean it costs $78 per day plus $45 per day ($123) to keep a prisoner in another county? Or does that mean our options are $78 here in Lancaster County or $45 elsewhere? If the former, then by golly that's pretty expensive. If the latter ... I'm speechless. How could it possibly cost $33 more per day to keep a prisoner locally? And why not just ship everybody out of the county? It's going to get worse when the new jail opens. Then per-prisoner per-day costs may reach $87. Even though at $45 the other counties to which we send our prisoners are still making money. Mind-boggling. Somebody with some expertise here please tell me I'm misunderstanding all this. Tell me Lancaster County isn't this incompetent. Pretty please?