How Much is That Inmate in the Slammer?
By: Mr. Wilson on
March 15, 2011
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?
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The article addressed the $48/day.
“Thurber said the counties offer a reduced rate because taking Lincoln prisoners fills jails and the counties make money.”
The thing that bothers me the most…
“The existing county jail, which has a capacity of 237, has been overcrowded and out of compliance with state jail standards since 2002, officials have said.”
Isn’t this around the time where they totally redid the county building to address this issue already?
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