State Judges have the option to send state convicted inmates to county facilities. The county ends up in a position where they are forced to accept that inmate in their jail. The problem is that the state had agreed to a 50/50 split on paying for state inmates sentenced to county jails but have never fully funded the program during appropriations. As a result the county receives about $15 a day to house condition of probation inmates instead of the $45 that a county would receive if the inmate was a jail contract prisoner. As a result individual counties end up paying for state inmates out of their own budgets.
Derek
Derek Dowsett is the Producer of the County Seat. Now entering his 11th season of the program, he has received what he considers a "Crash Course" in County Government.