Time is money.
In particular, in West Virginia, time spent in one of the state’s 10 regional jails is the taxpayers’ money being paid through the counties.
Monongalia County, one of nine counties that transports prisoners to North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County, expects to spend north of $2 million on its jail bill in the current fiscal year.
If that happens, it will be the third year running the bill has topped the $2 million threshold. In the 2020 fiscal year, the county spent $167,343.06 each month transporting and housing people in the regional jail.
The amount of money paid into the regional jail system has risen steadily in recent years. Data compiled by the county commission shows a jump of about $500,000 since 2013.
Commission President Ed Hawkins said Monongalia County’s magistrate and circuit courts operate efficiently, meaning less time waiting in jail. Even so, he said the commission meets with the prosecutor’s office as well as judges and magistrates on ways to streamline the process.
“We looked at the numbers to see where we stand. In other counties, this is the most onerous thing they have to deal with, depending on crime and the population, there’s a question of whether they have the money in their coffers to deal with this,” Hawkins said.
“It’s an expense I wish we didn’t have, but this was put upon us in replacement of operating our own jails. I don’t know how efficient the old jail system was, but there are certainly inefficiencies.”
Monongalia County Administrator Rennetta McClure explained that the county is charged $48.50 per day for each person in jail awaiting trial or sentencing.
The county is also responsible for transporting arrestees and prisoners to the jail, some 70 miles away, and has intergovernmental agreements with WVU and area municipalities, through which it receives $35 per trip.
The North Central Regional Jail was built in 2001. Along with Monongalia, it is also used by Doddridge, Harrison, Marion, Tyler, Pleasants, Ritchie, Wirt and Wood counties.
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