Fiscal Court Votes To Add Butler County Jail For County Inmates

Darren Doyle, story:
Sealed bids were accepted until 9am this morning for Edmonson County's jail contract for the next fiscal year. The contract is currently held by Hart County Jail, which charges Edmonson County $40 per day, per inmate. Currently, there are 24 county inmates housed at Hart County Jail, which is close to the average for the county.

At that number, the county pays more than $300,000 per year to house incarcerated individuals. 

Today, Judge Wil Cannon opened three bids and read them aloud to the fiscal court for a vote. 

Butler County Jail submitted a bid of $35 per day, per inmate; however, they set a maximum of 10 inmates for the county. Hart County also submitted a bid, at an increased price of $45 per day, per inmate, and Warren County Regional Jail offered a bid of $52 per inmate, per day.

All bids noted that medical expenses for inmates would be in addition to the daily prisoner rate, the same conditions as the county currently pays Hart County Jail. 

Judge Cannon suggested utilizing all three bids, as they weren't exclusive. He suggested using the lower cost Butler County for the first 10 inmates, then Hart County as usual, then Warren County if neither Butler nor Hart were available. Canon said utilizing Butler County's lower cost could save the county around $18k per year; however, it would take some coordination with jail transport on court days. He suggested trying it and see how it went. Magistrates made a motion to do that, which passed.