Jenkins reported he had 101 in the secure side of the jail with only 71 beds, which meant 30 inmates were sleeping on the floor. The unsecured area of the jail has 25 empty beds but inmates on the secure side cannot move to where the empty beds are. This has been an issue faced by Jenkins for some time now.
Jenkins said he contacted the state to request 10 additional inmates to be housed in Logan’s jail but was turned down due to total population. The state pays up to $30 a day to house its inmates whereas the county has to foot the total bill of its own inmates. The more state inmates a jail has the less tax payer money has to be spent to subsidize the institution.
Magistrate Dickie Carter said he did not blame Jailer Jenkins for the problem of overcrowding nor the amount of county inmates reside in the jail, but he did state that it was a problem and it needed to be looked into.
Carter added that he would hate for the state to come in and say Logan County needed to build a bigger facility or for them to continue to take the state inmates out due to overpopulation. Last month the state took 10 of its inmates out because the jail was over its limit.
Jenkins said he thought when the jail was built it would be enough room for what Logan County needed. This has proven not to be the case. Jenkins said 90 percent of the inmates are in for drug related charges and a good deal of them are repeat offenders. A lot of inmates cannot make bail and have to sit in jail for months awaiting their court dates.
Carter said plans needed to be made to rectify the problem and asked Jenkins for his input.
In other news, Jenkins, who heads up the county’s recycling program told Fiscal Court he had met with QRS Recycling, a company in St. Louis, last week about allowing them to come in and organize the county’s recycling program, as well as purchase and haul off commodities that are collected.
There were a few things discussed that sparked Jenkins’ interest.
QRS representative Gene Crabtree attended the July 28 Fiscal Court meeting presenting his company’s objective and offered to meet and eventually offer a proposal which will possibly generate funding for the program.
Jenkins will meet again with QRS on Monday. As soon as the company – which also has offices in Nashville and Louisville – make an official proposal, Jenkins said he would come back to the court with it.
Magistrate Loyd Houchens asked Jenkins about using a golf cart to transport inmates while picking up trash. He had gotten some calls about it and wondered how that worked. Jenkins had gotten calls as well and explained the cart was only used in the middle of the four lanes. By using the cart, inmates can pick up more trash and travel longer distances not getting worn out from walking in the heat.
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