OLDHAM COUNTY, Ky. — Overcrowding is an issue facing prisons and jails across this country, leaving jails left to come up with solutions.
Oldham County jailer Mike Simpson said the U.S. ranks number one for the number of people housed in jail and he said it's not something the country should be proud of.
"They were pretty much maxed out in Indiana. There were no additional beds," Simpson said.
That is what led the U.S. Marshall's Service in Indianapolis to reach out. The Oldham Co. Detention Center is now taking in and housing federal inmates from Indiana.
The jail has had an agreement to house federal inmates since 1997, so the agreement with Indiana was easy to set up and will "piggy-back" off the earlier agreement's terms and codes.
"Everyone from a local level to the state and ultimately on the federal level, all need beds," Simpson said.
The inmates will be transported from Indianapolis, Evansville and New Albany. So far, the facility has taken in about 40 inmates, but Simpson expects them to take in their cap of 100 federal inmates from Indiana.
"It was a really easy decision for us to do this," Simpson said.
Thanks to the detention center having been built in January 2018, it's equipped to house more inmates. But the decision was also easy, because it generates revenue.
"That's really what this was about," Simpson said. "Trying to tap into those revenue sources, that's one of my major jobs to do that, control the major costs."
The U.S. Marshall's Service pays a daily rate per inmate to Oldham Co. jail of $57 per day for housing federal inmates.
"The state of Kentucky, they pay an x-per-diem for housing state inmates. but the U.S. Marshall's Service, we get a lot more money per day, which was a large reason why we decided to do this," Simpson said.
According to Simpson, the federal agency also incurs the inmates' medical costs, whereas the state does not. He also said it will pay for transportation mileage and an hourly rate for the staff needing to pick up inmates from Indiana.
"So really it was just an overall windfall decision for us to generate the extra revenue that we needed, to pay the operational costs on this brand new facility, and pay the debt service," Simpson said.
He said the jail currently has the capability for inmates to have video visits with out-of-town family. Since the technology is already set up, he said they are working towards getting approval for inmates to do video arraignments and video meetings with defense attorneys and prosecutors. That will be especially helpful, he said, for the inmates from Indiana.
"Which will cut down on the number of transports where we at least for arraignment, we'll be able to do video arraignment from right here in our facility," he said.
With the overcrowding issue facing jails nationwide, Simpson said there's plenty of discussion about criminal reform.
"That all comes with a cost," he said. "Whether that's rehab programs or correctional facilities. It really boils down to what are we willing to accept in society and what are we willing to pay for? It does come with a number."
Simpson said the change will not affect daily operations immensely, and he said the detention center already has the staff in place.
Contact reporter Tyler Emery at temery@WHAS11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@TylerWHAS11) and Facebook.
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