County Jail to accept federal inmates

In a bit of a win-win deal for the county, the Randolph County Sheriff's Office has entered into a 36-month contract with the U.S. Marshals Service to house federal inmates at the County Jail.

For this service, the sheriff's office will receive $60 per inmate, per day. The at-will agreement is for a maximum of 10 federal inmates and can be terminated with 30 days' notice at any time during the contract if the sheriff's office feels it disrupts jail operations.

"They pay us to house them, they pay mileage to transport them to and from federal court and they pay the staff ($31 per hour) to transport them," said Randolph County Sheriff Shannon Wolff. "The only cost to taxpayers is to feed them."

Wolff said it costs $6 per day to feed an inmate at the jail, for a profit of $54 per federal inmate. That amounts to almost $194,500 per year in additional revenue that Wolff said will go into the county's General Fund.

Wolff noted that 27 county residents were federally indicted on drug charges alone in 2015 and that Monroe, Jackson, Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties also accept federal inmates at their jails.

"I think it's a great opportunity for the county to help pay some bills," Wolff said.

The Randolph County Board of Commissioners is expected to discuss the agreement during its meeting on Friday, but Wolff said that is just a formality.

"It's not something we were required to get approval on," Wolff said. "We want (the commissioners) to be on board with it, but it's not a requirement."

Chief Deputy Jarrod Peters told the Herald Tribune the sheriff's office has no control over the type of federal inmates the jail would receive as part of the agreement, but inmates involved in the same case would not be housed in the same cell.

"We weren't really given the perimeters as far as the geographic locations of the inmates," he said. "I anticipate they will be local inmates from the southern region."

Wolff said the jail has 44 beds, including trustee beds, and averages between 25 and 30 inmates.

"If we can't house them, can't transport them, we give (the U.S. Marshals) a heads-up and they make other arrangements," Peters said. "It's a good type of agreement to be in in case we get overpopulated with state inmates."

Both Wolff and Peters said the U.S. Marshals inspected the jail recently and gave them the green light.

The facility is also undergoing repairs to some jail doors and is set to receive a new roof and plumbing renovations as part of the recently-approved Randolph County Courthouse referendum.

"This is not like we are adding more staff," Wolff said. "The correctional officers that are watching our regular inmates are now watching (the federal inmates) also."

Peters said the federal inmates are not entitled to any special treatment.

"We are mandated by the state to provide to them what we provide to our state inmates," he said. "They are not entitled to anything extra being federal inmates."