The latest stats from Reno County Sheriff Randy Henderson shows that the number of inmates in the jail back in May was the largest amount in a single month, so far this year.
The stats show that 4-thousand, 575-people were in the jail at some point during that month with most being male at 3-thousand, 805, compared with 770-women.
That number for May shows a jump from April when there were 4-thousand, 302, and even more then the previous large month, which was January, when there was also a larger amount with 4-thousand, 344 individuals in the jail. The average daily population was 148 for the month of May.
But, the number that is somewhat alarming is the miles traveled in May by jail staff to take inmates to and from various locations. According to the stats released by the sheriff, the miles traveled for May was 12-thousand, 258, a jump of over 35-hundred from April when staff drove 8-thousand, 670 miles. The Sheriff says some of those miles include ones made by the Kansas Department of Corrections for the sheriff’s office, but still cost the department.
Keep in mind that, many of the inmates taken into custody by law enforcement are housed in out of county facilities, including Butler and Ford Counties. And, many of these trips are to bring inmates to and from court to those jails, while other transports are made for other reasons such as medical treatment and mental evaluations.
Sheriff Captain Larry Dyer says they have 75-inmates currently being housed in other counties at a cost of 35-dollars per-day for each inmate, meaning its costing county tax payers, 78-thousand, 750-dollars per month. Now, that doesn’t include cost for fuel, and food for the jailers who have to travel back and fourth to those counties for inmates.
The annex is currently having some work done meaning they’re not housing any inmates at the moment. Dyer says they sent all the males and females to the facilities in Ford and Butler Counties.
That’s partly why they’re looking at building a new jail, to eliminate that cost. They hope county tax payers will approve a 1-half-cent sales tax to cover the cost of building a new jail. Estimated cost as it stands now is anywhere between 20 and 25-million. Dyer says they don’t have an exact cost, yet. He says the discussion now is over what if any renovations they want to do at the jail annex. The thought is to move some county offices to the annex once a new jail is built, assuming voters will approve the sales tax proposal.