Sometime within the next few weeks, the Morgan County Justice Center will reach an important milestone - a total of $5 million will have been generated through holding ICE detainees.
In 2003, the county signed an extensive contract with the federal government to house U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement inmates.
Before then, Morgan County Sheriff Jim Petty said the county’s new justice center was much too large to be supported just by local prisoners.
“We didn’t have the money to pay for it based on the size and its use,” Petty said.
After the county reviewed and signed the ICE contract, it created a new stream of revenue into the Sheriff’s Office.
A little more than five years later, Petty said $5 million has been added to the county’s coffers.
The money has been used to hire more road deputies, detention and security officers and purchase 4-wheel-drive vehicles for several road deputies.
Metal detectors have been installed in the courthouse within the past year to help with security and the county recently signed a contract with a medical service provider for an on-site nurse at the jail.
The added revenue has also been used to fund large projects at the Justice Center including building a new sewer system and reconstructing an inner wing of the jail to comprise of two new sleeping pods - one to house 15 women inmates and the other for an additional 18 male inmates. An exercise room was also added.
Petty said the two new pods, with additional prisoners, could mean an increase in revenue as soon as next year’s budget.
Important in times like these, Petty said, noting how rising costs, especially fuel, have impacted the department’s budget.
The Sheriff’s Office has an annual budget of about $3,000,000 annually generated by the one-half-cent Law Enforcement Sales Tax and the ICE contract.
Contact this reporter at deannaw@lakesunleader.com
Camden County, Mo. —
