JAIL EXPANSION AT SILVERDALE COULD COST UP TO $5 MILLION

Despite $2 million in federal funding, Hamilton County Executive Claude
Ramsey said local taxpayer money will be needed to build a jail addition at
the Silverdale Workhouse.

Hamilton County commissioners last week voted unanimously to accept a $2
million grant from the U.S. Marshals Service to build a 128-bed jail
expansion. However, Mr. Ramsey said construction of the new jail will run
between $4 million and $5 million, with the county picking up more than
half the cost.

Officials said the expansion is necessary because of overcrowded conditions
at the Hamilton County Jail.

Mr. Ramsey has been working with the Marshals Service since December to get
money out of the agency's Cooperative Agreement Program, which provides
funds to local governments in exchange for housing federal prisoners. About
a quarter of the prisoners at the Hamilton County Jail are awaiting trial
on federal charges, and the new facility would bring the jail's population
back down nearer to its 489-inmate capacity.

At times this year, the population at the county jail has peaked at more
than 700 inmates, according to Deputy Chief of Corrections Jim Hart. He
said many of the federal prisoners are awaiting trial on drug charges,
which often take a year or more to process through the federal courts.

Mr. Ramsey said he had hoped for more help from the federal government. To
build the new jail, Mr. Ramsey said the county will take out short-term
loans, which will then be paid back by the federal grant and local funds.

Although county officials have complained that money will be extremely
tight in the coming fiscal year, Mr. Ramsey said existing per diem fees
paid to the county for housing federal and state prisoners may be enough to
pay off the local portion of the loans.

"We've got a stream of revenue," he said. "For federal or state prisoners,
you get reimbursed. If that was not enough, you would fund it in the future
out of the general fund."

When it is complete, Mr. Ramsey said the new jail will be staffed by
employees of Corrections Corporation of America, the private company which
manages the Silverdale site. Work on the jail expansion will begin this
summer, he said.