May 23, 2011 in City

State inmates evicted in a rift over county rate

• Print
• Email
• Share

The Spokane County Jail will quit housing state prisoners next month in a dispute over payment.

State officials refuse to pay the new $125-a-day rate the county charges Spokane and other cities to jail a prisoner – or even the $120.95 deal they were offered.

It remains to be seen whether the state will pay a $489,000 bill for the difference between the going rate and the $68 the state has continued paying since its contract expired June 30.

Only the federal government pays less than $125 a day, but Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said the $89 federal rate reflects the fact that the U.S. government pays transportation and medical costs for the 70 or so prisoners it typically keeps in the county jail.

“Inmate medical is an extreme cost,” Knezovich said.

Knezovich said there has been no increase in the state rate since a small “bump” in 2008 after several years without change.

He said the state paid about $1.2 million last year, at $68 a bed, to house alleged probation violators who are waiting for court hearings.

State and county officials say the jail currently houses 10 to 15 state prisoners a day on average.

The state Department of Corrections contract expired June 30, but the county continued taking state prisoners while the parties tried to negotiate a new agreement. A plan to evict state prisoners on Dec. 31 was set aside as talks continued.

“Those negotiations have pretty much gone nowhere,” Knezovich said. “It just got to the point that Spokane could no longer subsidize the state’s housing needs. … We need to fill those beds with inmates that are going to pay the rate.”

Spokane County’s jail charge is “just far outside what we’re paying at other jurisdictions,” said state Prisons Director Bernie Warner. “I would say that a majority of our contracts are somewhere between $60 and $80 a day.”

Warner said the state’s male prisoners will be housed at the Airway Heights Corrections Center, but that prison can’t take women. He said his staff is shopping for a jail to take the small number of female prisoners.

“I think we’re talking about one or two at any given time,” Warner said. “Our staff has said there are some other jurisdictions that are interested.”

Knezovich said he also is willing to house the women, but the state is “going to have to pay a more reasonable amount.”

Warner said the Legislature is considering placing a cap on the amount the Department of Corrections is allowed to pay for jail service. However, he said that probably would serve only to demonstrate that Spokane County’s fee is “far outside the resources that we have.”

The Legislature could force counties to accept state prisoners on whatever terms it wishes, but “we have not gone down that path,” Warner said.

Instead, he said, “We’re still at the table with the county, and I think we have a shared interest in making sure that whatever we do is a good public-safety decision.”

Knezovich said he will continue to book state prisoners with the understanding that corrections officials must pick them up immediately.

Warner said he hopes “immediately” means within 24 hours.

As to the county’s $489,000 bill, “we’re having our folks look at it,” Warner said. “I don’t think we’ve had it long enough to tell you whether we agree with the amount.”

Warner said he hadn’t yet received legal advice on whether the bill is collectible in the absence of a formal agreement.

The state was on notice that the county expected more money, but county officials knew the state refused to pay the increase.

“We continued to take their inmates on good faith that they would come to the table and negotiate this thing out, but nothing was ever worked out,” Knezovich said.

Exasperated, he said he doesn’t really care about collecting the alleged delinquency. But county commissioners do.

“They’re very interested in that,” Knezovich said.

Commissioners must pay much of the sheriff’s budget from their withered general fund.

The amount in question is enough to fund four deputies for a year.

19 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  SpokyDaBear on May 23 at 6:09 a.m.

  Now we see why they want a new jail. It’s a money maker. They want a new jail so they can make more money from prisoners not from Spokane.

  They take people from all over the state.

  If we only took criminals from Spokane, the overcrowding issue would be siolved and there would be no need for a new jail.

  Of course Ozzie would have to lay off some of his crony jailers who make up to 100k with overtime.

  If they want a new jail, let them pay for it from their law enforcement pension plan .

• 

  Orange on May 23 at 6:32 a.m.

  Prisoners should work off a good portion of this. Sheriff Oz should come up with a plan to see this through.

  Either way, like I said when this same story ran in yesterdays paper, we the people are paying for this.

  No need for new jails either. The rattier the better. Makes one reflect upon their crimes and never want to return.

• 

  JBlim on May 23 at 6:56 a.m.

  Or maybe the Oz overplayed his hand and will end up losing money for the county.

• 

  eagleproducer on May 23 at 8:13 a.m.

  Orange: I really dig your draconian, chain gang gulag approach to crime and punishment, but I don’t advocate taking work away from those who obey the law.

• 

  Liberty_Bell on May 23 at 8:24 a.m.

  At least a few Department’s are cutting jail costs, with their new Get out of Jail Free Card.

  http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2011/05/22/former-yakima-county-deputy-dies-in-jail

• 

  hamrsrscarry on May 23 at 8:31 a.m.

  LOL. I see some Internet Criminologists™ have weighed in. If jails were deterrents and crappier jails more deterrent, gosh, wouldn’t they empty over time?

  Again, soon the Sheriff Joe Fetishists will come slithering in and proclaiming his awesomeness in debasing and humiliating prisoners, his constitutional violations (ever notice how picky wingnutbaggers are over which parts of the constitution they support?) and his deep racist hate.

  Let er rip wingnutbaggers. Tell us how pink undies and tents will end crime.

• 

  mikeln on May 23 at 9:00 a.m.

  Could the need for more and more jails be tied to the decline in education in america? Those to stupid to find work with the slightly less stupid paying more and more to keep them in jail. True capitalism being practiced as we watch.

• 

  detroitdude on May 23 at 9:07 a.m.

  Maybe they could save some money by not locking people up for having a bag of pot.

• 

  eagleproducer on May 23 at 9:07 a.m.

  mikeln: Look no further than the failed war on drugs to explain record levels of incarceration. Education in America is fine. We are producing the best and brightest students ever. If people want to fix a failed institution in the U.S. start with the American Family.

• 

  lewis8457 on May 23 at 9:17 a.m.

  Why are we giving inmates free medical? While we have hard working citizens dieing of abscess teeth? If it isn’t contagious, tough get over it. Get them out and make them work. Have them clean all area woodlands. Pick up trash along highways. Clean all city and county buildings, why are we paying janitor companies while we have a jail full of free work force? Sure in sensitive areas we can have a couple sub contracted janitors.

  Why pay a guy to stand with a slow sign when an inmate with a 25-pound ball on his leg can do the same thing for free? Less public employees equal fewer taxes. That money can then be funneled back into the private sector prompting growth and jobs.

  The new jail will be more money out of our pockets so Ozzie can lie to us and the inmates can sit on their butts while getting free dental and medical. Jail should not be easy it is supposed to be a punishment, a loss of freedoms, such as labor laws.

  Contract is up so the amount doubles? yep sounds like Spokane county, even though their jail is in the city limits.

  Did anyone stop to think if the county kicks out the state prisoners the State might stop some funding for another program in retaliation?

• 

  lewis8457 on May 23 at 9:27 a.m.

  The war on drugs has many moneymaking opportunities for our wonderful government. It is one of few arrests that allow authorities the right to sell or confiscate for their own use all your worldly possessions.

  Think about it, how many possessions of value does you average sex abuser have? Not much that is why they are always letting them out, to offend again. Leaving more room for the drug dealer that has a nice car and home, and a trunk of cash in his basement?

  It has nothing to do with protection, right, ethic, morals, freedoms it all has to do with MONEY.

  Welcome to america where money is worth more to someone then your freedom and or life.

• 

  mikeln on May 23 at 9:29 a.m.

  Forced labor, just what some want. Make everything a crime and there you have it, free workers, a republican dream. While the war on drugs is a dismal failure, better education leads to less drug use and better educated people. I agree, this country is producing some very smart people but could do better. A country full of educated people would not tolorate this so called war on drugs, they would see it for what it really is, a money making opportunity on both ends.

• 

  eagleproducer on May 23 at 9:58 a.m.

  Lewis: Please explain why jobs should be taken away from law abiding citizens. When everyone who obeys the law who wants to work has a job then it might be okay to employ prisoners.

• 

  Coffee on May 23 at 9:58 a.m.

  Only violent or serial criminals should be put behind bars. All others should be chipped and tracked and what crime they were chipped for available to anyone with a scanner. I have found that most people do not commit crimes will being watched by other people.

• 

  kennyhuston on May 23 at 11:51 a.m.

  Oh so this is why there’s such an urgent need for a new jail? SpokyDaBear is right on the mark, as well as the others who followed and agreed that the prosecuting of Marijuana offenses is a drain on resources that could be better spent locking up VIOLENT criminals!!!

  There are TONS of duties the inmates could do which wouldn’t take away (good) jobs from the public sector. We need to wisely invest $ into programs to keep individuals from re-offending, (namely drug treatment), instead of just placing hope that they will miraculously have some sort of self-realization moment which will make them drastically change their destructive ways.

  Building bigger jails to incarcerate nonviolent, otherwise law-abiding pot smoking individuals is STUPID & WRONG for sooooooo many reasons!!! Removing parents out of homes leaving children in the state’s custody AS WELL AS losing the taxes they’d have paid AS WELL AS removing an otherwise productive worker from the workforce to incarcerate them for what essentially is a victimless crime? Please show me how this, (bigger jails), would be more economically advantageous than wisely investing $ into programs designed to help these convicts change their ways so they may become law-abiding, tax-paying, productive members of society. You could use $ to fund these programs derived directly from taxing MMJ sales alone!!!

  We will never win the war against drug addiction with this “Lock-‘em-all up solution”. I was a kid in grade school when Nancy Reagan told us to - JUST SAY NO. This war on drugs is doing more harm than good for our country - I’m just wondering why it’s taking the Feds so long to see something so blatantly apparent to the rest of the WORLD?

  NOW HEAR ME SCREAM, “NO NEW JAIL!” !!!

• 

  mikeln on May 23 at 12:13 p.m.

  The federal government will not admit to mistakes made, just look at hanford. We gave up our fith admendment rights when we agreed to drug testing just to get a job. I could tell when somone on my crew was messed up, didn’t need a drug test. Most of the time it was people smelling of alcohol and either still drunk or so hungover they could not give a good days work. Just the testing in this country cost a fortune. We need jobs, not bigger jails, just another dem-repub promise that was never going to happen.

• 

  Dazzeetrader11 on May 23 at 12:13 p.m.

  I hear the community corrects piece is on its way prior to a new jail bond. Big expense but the CCR issues will be ironed out by the end of the year. I quite agree that non violent types should be given ankle bracelets and counselling. It wont work but it’s worth a try. Cost to the perps is usually helpful as a reminder that crime doesn’t pay.

• 

  Marcus on May 23 at 8:06 p.m.

  Yea that’s nice rub it in Ozzie the avrage income in the state of Washington is around 48k a year and he is telling us “The amount in question is enough to fund four deputies for a year.”
  $489,000… nice no wonder the government is on financial trouble

  I think that this paper should do here like they did in NY and list the pay for every Government employee so we can see what we are paying for.

  of course we would see that they all make more than the average income of the residents of the state.

• 

  lewis8457 on May 24 at 7:17 a.m.

  eagleproducer who is cleaning the woodlands NO ONE hard to take those jobs away. why am i paying so some guy can sit on his butt while i work? he can mop a floor or two it wont kill them. why are we paying 56 grand a year for poor janitorial have you been to city hall lately measure the dust on the top of the monitors. Hey if they cant dust at 56 a year put a inmate in there a least if he does a crummy job we aren’t paying him anything.

  when public employees make 50-200% more then their counter parts in the private sector. Cancel those jobs and give to private sector. how is that losing jobs? If anything with the money they pay city janitors you could hire 2 more people for every one city employee.