STATE DELAYING PAYMENTS TO JAILS

Daviess Owed $460,000 On Inmates

A combination of state budget problems and an unusually high inmate
population is being blamed for a major financial shortfall affecting more
than half of the jails in Kentucky.

The Department of Corrections recorded a shortfall in the account which
compensates the 69 Kentucky jails that incarcerate "state" inmates, said
Lisa Carnahan, the department's communication director.

A state inmate is a prisoner convicted and sentenced for a felony crime.
The state pays county jails $27.51 each day to house those inmates.

At least two jails, Daviess County Detention Center and the Breckinridge
County Detention Center, have not received compensation since February.

The state owes the Daviess County jail more than $460,000 for March and
April, Daviess County Jailer Harold Taylor said. By July the state will owe
Breckenridge County more than $400,000, said Jailer Louis Carman.

The setback is temporary, and payments are expected to continue in July,
Carnahan said. The problem was caused by a statewide increase in inmates
and by the state's budget problems, she said.

"Counties aren't going to lose any money as a result of this," Carnahan
said. "It's just a delay in payment."

In June 2001, 15,808 inmates were in jails throughout the state, she said.
This week there were 16,422. Last June there were 4,115 state inmates, but
this week the number was 4,501, she said.

Of the 4,501 state inmates in Kentucky this week at least 3,100 were in
county jails, Taylor said.

In July, when the new fiscal year begins, the back and current payments
should arrive, Carnahan said. Smaller jails may have a more difficult time
absorbing the shortfall, Taylor said.

The Daviess County jail can accommodate the shortfall despite the
outstanding payments, Taylor said.

"I've got enough in reserves to carry us through," he said.

Taylor, who is president of the Kentucky Jailers Association, said he was
recently notified of the problem after he fielded telephone calls from
jails throughout the state inquiring about the payments.

The payments stopped arriving without advance notice, he said.

"Especially to your smaller counties," Taylor said, "it would have
certainly been advantageous to alert them."

The Breckenridge County jail housed 109 state inmates this week, Carman
said. The county jail operates mainly on the compensation received from the
state, he said.

Carman said he was uncertain if the county would have to seek temporary
relief for the jail.

"It's not the jail's fault," Carman said. "It's not the county's fault.
It's the state's fault. We've called up checking on it, and they say
they're out of money."

Many county jails in Kentucky, such as the facilities in Ohio and Hancock
counties, do not house state inmates. The state's financial shortfall does
not affect them.

Muhlenberg County's jail lodges state inmates, but the jailer was
unavailable for comment.

The state's budget for the Department of Corrections is one of the hardest
to predict, and easily altered if other departments allocate additional
money for more officers, Taylor said.

"Every time you increase the number of law enforcement personnel you
increase the population in the jails," he said.

When the 2001-02 budget was prepared during 1998-99, it was nearly
impossible for the corrections department to anticipate the influx of
methamphetamine in Kentucky or fluctuating crime waves. Other factors such
as federal grants to form crime-fighting task forces or federal dollars to
pay for overtime may affect the population in jails, Taylor said.

Most state inmates at the Daviess County jail are those who are awaiting an
opening at a state penitentiary; probation violators; and certain
classifications of prisoners sentenced to less than five years.