Custer County Jail permanently closes, inmates to be housed in nearby county
CUSTER COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Custer County Jail closed its doors permanently Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.
According to the Custer County Sheriff's Office, the Custer County Commissioners unanimously voted on Dec. 29, 2022, to adopt Custer County Resolution 22-30, which officiated the closure of the jail.
The sheriff's office said there were three factors leading to this decision; the current condition and design of the jail, the cost per day of housing an inmate/detainee, and anticipated unfunded mandates that are expected to be adopted by the legislature in this session.
According to the CCSO, the jail doesn't meet the current desired safety requirements. This year, the sheriff's office said it would need to make expansive upgrades in the air handling systems, purchase a body scanner to detect contraband and upgrade the wall construction in the booking room.
During that vote, commissioners approved an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with the Fremont County Jail to begin housing Custer County inmates/detainees. The sheriff's office said the Fremont County Jail was selected based on distance and services provided.
According to the CCSO, the cost to run the jail was projected to increase to $1 million in 2023. The sheriff's office said the projected cost of running the jail per night per inmate would be $951. Comparatively, the CCSO said the contract with Fremont County will be $120 a night.
The sheriff's office said the cheapest estimation it received to build a stand-alone jail with 25 beds would cost $5 million. The CCSO said the engineering firm that provided that estimate recommends waiting to design a jail until after the new legislation is passed in the summer of 2023.
Regarding employees, the sheriff's office four of the seven detention deputies accepted offers to attend the police academy starting in late January. Once graduated, they will be fully staffed on patrol. One of the remaining detention deputies will become the new court security bailiff.
The two other deputies will be responsible for shuttling detainees to and from the Fremont County Jail to court. They will each work half the week.
The CCSO said at some point in the future, Custer County residents might decide to build a new jail when the demand for jail beds is greater in the community.
Read the full statement released on Facebook below:
Commissioners Vote to Close Custer County Jail
On Thursday, December 29, 2022, the Custer County Commissioners unanimously voted to adopt Custer County Resolution 22-30 which will close the Custer County Jail on January 6, 2023. They also voted to approve an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with the Fremont County Jail to begin housing Custer County inmates/detainees.
Three factors went into making this decision. The factors were the current condition and design of the jail, the cost per day of housing an inmate/detainee and anticipated unfunded mandates that are expected to be adopted by the legislature in this session. The jail is currently fully- staffed with seven detention deputies and one detention sergeant. The turnover in the jail is almost 100 percent per year and we have recently been running with as little as half of the staff.
The cost to run the Custer County Jail was projected to increase to one million dollars in 2023. Of that total, 68 percent would go to salaries, overtime, fringe benefits, and professional services.
This year, we housed inmates/detainees for Custer County for a total of 1,051 nights. Taking the projected full cost of running the jail per night of housing for each Custer inmate would be $951. To offset this cost, we have allowed surrounding counties to house inmates/detainees with us. We, and many other county jails, charge these counties $61 a night, per inmate. This fee was originally based on the reimbursement fee paid by Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) to county jails that house DOC inmates. However, the $61 does not allow us to recoup the actual costs to house these inmates/detainees. These inmates/detainees from neighboring counties stayed 1,122 nights in our jail. Adding these neighboring inmates/detainees to the Custer County inmate/detainees we had 2,173 total nights in the jail. Housing these neighboring inmate/detainees allowed us to lower our cost per night to $460. Our contract with Fremont County will charge us $120 a night.
When selecting a jail to partner with, we looked at the distance travelled to the jail and the services provided to the inmates/detainees. We need a jail that has medical staff on-duty inside the jail to care for our inmates/detainees. We also need a jail that has a reliable vacant bed count to house our average daily prisoner total in the county. The only jail in a neighboring county that met both criteria was the Fremont County Jail. It is also the closest jail in mileage.
Finally, the current condition of the jail does not meet our desired safety requirements. This year we would need to make very expensive upgrades in air handling systems, we would need to purchase a body scanner to detect contraband, and we would need to upgrade the wall construction in the booking room to prevent inmate harm when they try and tear the booking room up.
Last month, we contacted an engineering firm that designs jails and prisons. They estimated the cheapest cost they could build a stand-alone jail with 25 beds would cost $5 million. They are recommending to their customers that everyone wait to design a jail until after the new legislation is passed this summer. At some point in the future, Custer County residents might decide to build a new jail when the demand for jail beds is greater in our community.
Four of our seven detention deputies have accepted offers from us to attend the police academy starting in late January. When they graduate, we will be fully staffed on patrol. One of the remaining detention deputies accepted our offer to become the new court security bailiff to replace long- term employee Mike Halpin who was recently appointed to serve as the county judge. The two remaining deputies will each work half the week. They will be responsible for shuttling detainees to and from Fremont jail to court.
We are grateful to our loyal and hard-working detention staff. They have faithfully served the citizens of Custer County by operating the jail. Without their hard work, we could not have kept the jail open and in- compliance with ever changing regulations. We both agree along with all three commissioners that the decision to close the jail was the best decision, right now, for the county both in terms of prudently utilizing taxpayer funds and providing safe housing and reliable medical services to our inmates and detainees.
Signed
Sheriff Robert Hill
Undersheriff Lloyd Rich Smith
