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The Problem Of County Jail Overcrowding

Story Published: Oct 15, 2012 at 5:21 PM EDT

Story Updated: Oct 15, 2012 at 6:46 PM EDT

State Senator Patty Ritchie (R. - 48th District) hosted a private meeting Monday between county sheriff's deputies and state Senator Michael Nozzolio (R. - 54th District) at her Watertown office.

The issue: inmates who violate parole are supposed to go to state prisons, but those violators are ending up in the county jail and are costing counties money.

"It's not a few hundred dollars a day, it's in the tens of thousands a day - just for the counties Ritchie represents. Across the state it's multi-million," said Nozzolio, who chairs the Senate's Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee.

Jefferson County Sheriff John Burns says he has eight of those inmates right now and it's not just the cost of boarding he has to worry about.

Things like overtime and medication add up.

"We have one inmate right now - it's costing over $2,800 a month in just psych meds," said Burns.

But, at the heart of this issue is jail overcrowding. 

Those eight state inmates at the Jefferson County Jail force Burns to send his county inmates to other jails. 

Burns says that costs county taxpayers more than $1 million a year.

As a solution, Ritchie has proposed a bill that requires the state to move its parolees out of county prisons within 10 days after going in. 

After the meeting, Ritchie and Nozzolio toured the Watertown Correctional Facility at Dry Hill, one of the places parole violators would be sent under the new bill. 

The state facility currently has more than 100 open beds.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
, Watertown, NY

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