BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
PAINTSVILLE — Martin, Johnson, Lawrence and Magoffin counties will pay $10 more per day to house inmates at the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center, the latest move by the regional jail board to address continuing financial problems at the facility.
The board voted Aug. 27 to increase the daily county inmate rate from $36.34 to $46.34.
Board member Steve Rose said the increase, assuming the jail averages 125 inmates per day, would generate the revenue needed to cover the facility’s approximately $403,000 annual insurance bill.
At 125 inmates per day, the $10 increase would generate an additional $456,250 per year.
“This year it’s going to cost us $46 a head to keep them,” Rose said. “That’s taking all the money we’ve got coming in here. There is nowhere else to get more money … And $10 only breaks even on insurance if we keep at least 125 inmates.”
The increase follows years of financial trouble at the regional jail.
An audit presented to the board last October showed the detention center recorded $2.95 million in revenues against $3.62 million in expenditures in fiscal 2025, leaving a reported deficit of $533,487 after including commissary income. Auditor Darrell Blair warned that the jail did not have enough cash to cover its bills and the following month’s payroll.
Less than three weeks later, the board raised the county inmate rate by $5, from $31.34 to the current $36.34. At that meeting, bookkeeper Pam Burgess said the jail continued to operate in the red, with payroll running between $62,000 and $68,000 every two weeks.
Financial pressure continued this year. Jail Administrator Byron Hansford told the board in May that it cost about $45 per day to house an inmate, while member counties paid $36.34. He attributed part of the problem to declining inmate populations. At the same time, board members also pointed to employee raises, turnover and overtime of 400 to 600 hours per month.
In June, the four member counties each contributed approximately $57,000 to cover the remaining balance on the jail’s insurance premium.
Rose, who moved to raise the inmate rate, said the board could re-examine the cost next year.
“Food has gone up, everything has gone up,” Rose said. “Employee salaries have gone up.”
The rate increase is retroactive to Aug. 1.
BSRDC board meets the fourth Thursday each month at 6 p.m. at the jail.