In an ongoing effort to relieve pressure on an overloaded county jail, Sheriff Kevin Harrison, Presiding Judge Wes Dalton and Prosecuting Attorney Kelly King met with the Warren County Commission March 13 to discuss their options.The difficulty comes from a recent spike in the number of local inmates, combined with a drop in federal funding as a result. The cost of operating the jail isn’t fully covered by dedicated tax funding, so the county has come to rely on a contract with the U.S. marshals service that pays to house federal inmates in Warren County.The spike in local inmates means less room for federal inmates, and fewer federal inmates means less federal funding. The current loss of federal funding is about $550 per day, Harrison said.An increasing number of local inmates was an issue the sheriff said he was aware of, but thought he had more time to address. However, a surge in 2016 has made the issue an immediate one.“I wish we would have addressed it a year ago,” Harrison said. “But here we are now, where there’s really not any wiggle room.”This year’s budget for the jail assumes an average of 35 prisoners per day will be those held on federal contract, Harrison explained. Based on that number, the county would bring in about $692,000 in federal funding.However, the actual count of federal inmates hasn’t been more than 25 this year because of limited space, Harrison said.Dropping the federal prisoners entirely wouldn’t solve the matter because it wouldn’t lower the cost of running the jail enough to make up for the lost funding, Harrison said. That’s because almost 70 percent of the jail’s annual budget, about $988,000 this year, is for jail staffing, which Harrison said is near its safe minimum already.The sheriff and county commissioners met with an architect from Treanor Architects in February to discuss converting the sheriff’s administrative offices into additional jail space adjacent to the current first floor of the county jail, relieving crowding. The best case scenario is to have that expansion done next year, they said, which doesn’t address immediate crowding concerns.They asked Dalton and King if there is anything the court or prosecutor can do to help with the situation.“We’re looking for some way to give enough relief that we can survive until we get more capacity,” Southern District Commissioner Hubie Kluesner said. “Is there anything you can do to help give us some relief for just a year’s time?”The court and prosecutor’s office already are doing something, they replied. Noting that many cases were taking a long time to resolve, Dalton said he recently began pushing for defendants to accept plea agreements from the prosecutor or prepare for a speedy trial.“If the state has made a recommendation and they’re not accepting that recommendation, we’re getting the case ready for trial much quicker,” he said.The prosecutor’s office also threatens to withdraw plea agreements if a defendant doesn’t take them when offered. It’s a system that already has been put in place in Montgomery County with positive results, Dalton said.Warren County Court has added an additional day of hearings every month just for inmates in jail custody, Dalton said, and is holding more hearings using video communication for inmates who are housed in other counties (a common practice when the jail is full).That helps the sheriff’s staffing cost because two deputies are required to transport inmates to and from court. With video communication, the inmate can stay put. Another common suggestion for relieving pressure on the jail population is to reduce bond requirements and make it easier for more inmates to afford bail. Officials are reserved about this option, as they say many people stuck in the jail on high bonds are there because they are a danger to the community.“I agree to bond reductions when I think it’s reasonable,” said prosecutor King. “I’m in a position where you’re asking me to lower the jail population, but still effectively prosecute. There’s only so much I can do.”King also pointed out that even what seem like minor crimes matter a lot to the victims, and said a stint in jail is the only thing that gets some people’s attention. The victims of crimes like passing bad checks or failing to pay child support expect that the people who wrong them will be put in jail, King said.King said Dalton’s new policy for pushing more cases toward trial or plea agreements seemed to have a positive impact since going into effect about a month ago.Warren County Jail