Counties needing help with jails as costs and budgets continue to rise

LOGAN COUNTY, Ky. – The end of the Kentucky legislative session had brought out hundreds of new bills signed into law, but some local leaders are concerned about those that haven’t passed. Specifically, laws that help relieve some of the pain in the jail systems.

In Logan County, the budge for their jail is in excess of $4 million, which is used to take care of both county and state inmates at the jail. But Logan County Judge Executive Phil Baker says the problem lies in the cost.

For every state inmate, the county receives $35 a day from the Commonwealth, however, it costs around $60 a day to provide for those same inmates. The county is also responsible for medical costs for these inmates, which can quickly drive up the budget and makes the jail budget one of the largest expenditures in the county.

Baker says that if the state can help, it would allow for the counties to focus on creating a better quality of life for their residents.

“We’re watching this money go out. And I’m thinking to myself, you know, this is the money that we’re spending there, that four plus million, which I know we’re always going to have expenses for the jail system. And, but but the thing I’m looking at is the money that we are spending, all in the jail, that money could be used so much better somewhere else for better quality of life for our community,” Baker said.

Logan County shares these struggles with many different counties all across the state and News 40 will continue to follow this story as more information becomes available.