Montgomery Sheriff Reacts To New Prison Plan
There’s a new plan being pushed to fix the state’s overcrowded prisons.
It involves taking up empty beds in local jails.
When you walk in the door of a state prison, you can see just how crowded the conditions are.
It’s a completely different picture for some county jails.
And that’s why some lawmakers want local sheriffs to help with the problem.
“There are several sheriffs that are very interested in it. I think it’s a win win for the state. You got a lot of county jails that have space. I have space here as well,” said Montgomery county Sheriff Derrick Cunningham.
Sheriff Cunningham says his jail is at about 60% capacity. It can hold up to about 1300 inmates.
Under the new plan, the state of Alabama would pay sheriff’s offices 30 dollars a day to house the state inmates.
“For our county, 30 dollars isn’t enough. We spend more on housing an inmate than $30 a day. For Montgomery County that number has to come up at least 10 dollars before we can be able to say we’re alright with it,” said Cunningham.
Some are worried that shifting the burden to local authorities won’t solve the problem and will end up costing the state more in the long run. Sheriff Cunningham is on board, but he wants to make sure his facility never comes close being full.
“I wouldn’t want to get my facility at capacity. I would always want to have a buffer. That’s a stress not only on your staff, but it’s a stress on your resources like maintenance personnel with all the issues that you’ve got. It takes a lot to run a jail.”
