Sending inmates to other parishes costs St. Landry nearly $2K daily, but the jail is full.
It’s costing nearly $2,000 a day for St. Landry Parish government to finance the housing of prisoners who have been placed elsewhere while they await criminal court proceedings.
That’s not counting the additional expenses says Parish President Jessie Bellard, that it takes to transport, feed and provide medical services for those accused of crimes and are now temporarily incarcerated at facilities primarily in north Louisiana.
Overall, Bellard says, St. Landry is spending about $2 million annually from American Rescue Act money to assist with the costs of prisoners, a state-mandated expenditure that is placing an ongoing financial strain on parish government.
“If it wasn’t for the ARA money that we are receiving, we would have to borrow in order to pay for the prisoners. We can use (ARA revenues submitted to the parish for COVID relief) since governments can use the money under federal and state guidelines, for operational expenses,” Bellard said.
“Right now we’re fine with the expenses because we have the ARA. That money however runs out in 2024. After that we will figure out what we have to do next,” Bellard added.
The parish jail operates daily at 242-prisoner maximum capacity, Bellard said during a Thursday afternoon interview.
This week, there are another 90 inmates awaiting trial or the disposition of their cases. Those prisoners have been relocated in LaSalle and other parishes, but that situation comes with a high cost, said Bellard.
Bellard said parish government is paying other jail facilities approximately $20 daily for expenses related to each St. Landry Parish prisoner who are in other facilities.
What might help?
The Parish Council has given the Bellard administration approval to begin renovating a former commercial building located across the street from the parish jail into a prisoner trustee dormitory.
Bellard said plans for the dorm will include a less restrictive atmosphere for those awaiting their release.
“Right now we have the architectural plans drawn up and we are awaiting the completion of those. When the project is completed, we think we can accommodate about 60 trustees inside the dorm. That will help take a burden off our parish jail and also save us some money,” Bellard said.
Total costs for the completion of the trustee dorm are pending, Bellard added.
St. Landry Parish District Attorney Chad Pitre said his prosecutors are working to help decrease the strain on the parish jail.
Pitre, who took office in 2021, inherited a criminal docket with at least 4,000 cases awaiting removal or trial.
“There’s a lot of crime here for a parish this size. If you notice, we are now bringing some of these cases that have been pending for several years to trial and hopefully that will decrease the burden that is being placed on the parish administration,” Pitre said during a recent interview.
The DA’s office received three convictions during criminal trials conducted in state district court during the past three weeks.
Two of those cases, Pitre pointed out, dated back to 2019.
FOR SUBSCRIBERS:St. Landry's DA set out to decrease the criminal docket. COVID-19 complicated things.
What does the budget say?
Parish government finance director Caryn Fulop presented a monthly budget statement to the parish council Wednesday night, which indicates that by Aug. 31, the administration had already spent about $45,000 more than anticipated for reimbursement of prisoners’ medical costs, overall expenses, jail intake revenue and state inmate feeding.
The parish jail maintenance fund reviewed and approved by council members also reflects a $500,130 deficit.
Nearly half of that deficit ($205,655) comes from an annual jail maintenance tax, estimated to provide $697,270 annually.
Despite what the budget statement shows, Bellard said, he’s not worried about the parish-wide collection of the jail maintenance property tax.
“The money is going to be there. We are using an accrued accounting system and you will see that by the end of the year and when we start on preparing the new budget, that all the property taxes for the jail (in 2022) will have been collected,” Bellard noted.
A $200,957 capital outlay expenditure is also included as part of the jail maintenance budget. In addition, there is another listed cost of $69,218 in natural disaster expenses.
Bellard said on Thursday that he is not sure how to explain the capital outlay and natural disaster expenditures.
Parish government Bellard said, has also paid more than $50,000 for medical support for prisoners in 2022.
“We have a staff of nurses paid out of our Health Unit budget who are working seven days a week to take care of the prisoners’ medical needs,” Bellard pointed out.
Nurse staffing costs have amounted to $45,281, while workman’s compensation costs for the nurses have totaled $5,680, according to the budget summary report.
This article originally appeared on Opelousas Daily World: St. Landry Parish jail inmates housed elsewhere costs thousands
