Costs Of Jail Incarceration

Costs of Jail Incarceration The cost to incarcerate an inmate in the Kitsap County Jail, whether the inmate is detained awaiting trial, or adjudged and serving a sentence to confinement, is determined by a mathematical formula known in the corrections field as the daily bed rate or DBR. The math formula for calculating DBR is:
Total jail expenditure budget divided by the number of inmate beds.
This first quotient is then divided by the number of days in a given year (either 365 or 366 for leap year).
The second quotient reflects the total costs of operating this corrections facility on a per inmate, per day basis. The historical and current DBR are: 2006: $56 per inmate per day. 2007: $65 per inmate per day. 2008: $67.53 per inmate per day. 2009: $80 per inmate per day. The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office is not in business to operate the jail on a “for profit basis” in order to increase revenue for the county’s general fund. We can only hope to offset the cost of operating the jail by charging an appropriate DBR. “The sheriff’s office well understands that all government agencies are financially challenged during these tough economic times,” said Sheriff Steve Boyer. “We continually work with our partner agencies to best meet the public safety requirements of our communities.”

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The present jail configuration, following the jail expansion and improvements that were completed in July 2003, were designed for the Kitsap County Jail to provide regional corrections services to all agencies and municipalities within Kitsap County, primarily, and others as space is available… such as the City of Gig Harbor, the Suquamish Tribe and the Washington State Department of Corrections. The Kitsap County Jail is operated in conformance with established principals, guidelines and operating protocols as set forth by:
The National Institute for Corrections.
American Corrections Association.
National Commission on Correctional Health Care. It is not inexpensive to meet these guidelines and operational requirements. The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office has limited control over jail operations costs. The necessary costs for services include:





Maintenance services & utilities. Food contract with Consolidated Food Management. Inmate health care contract with Conmed. Corrections officers’ union contract with the county, which covers salaries, medical benefits, longevity pay, L & I payments, retirement funds, etc.

Looking ahead, the sheriff’s office expects that contracts for food service and inmate medical will increase by approximately 2.5% for the 2009 – 2010 contract year. The sheriff’s office has always, and continues to keep, a direct dialogue with our contract agencies, about any anticipated cost increases to the inmate DBR. The sheriff’s office expects that the 2010 DBR will remain approximately the same as 2009. We are now entering into contract negotiations with our partner cities for the 2010 contract period.

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Summary: The Kitsap County Jail is staffed and operated as a regional full service corrections facility, designed to relieve local cities and police agencies from this requirement. The jail does not conduct operations for profit or to raise revenue for county government. In past years the jail has operated at less than daily bed rate (DBR). With an increasing economic drain on county resources, the jail has to recover actual costs of inmate incarceration through DBR, reflected in charges to contract agencies. Should local agencies house their adjudged persons in a facility other than the Kitsap County Jail, it is expected that DBR revenue from contract agencies will be reduced in direct proportion. If jail DBR funds drop significantly, then a number of options may be considered to deal with this increased reduction in revenues:
Close or merge inmate housing units and consolidate services.
Impose restrictions for booking a suspect into jail and holding that suspect for a court appearance. For certain offense categories a suspect may be booked into jail then released on personal recognizance.

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