Thanks to a new agreement, Cole County will get more money for housing federal prisoners in the county jail.
At Tuesday's Cole County Commission meeting, Sheriff John Wheeler said the county will now get $90 a day for housing a federal prisoner instead of $78. The change will begin April 1.
The county has an agreement to house 51 federal prisoners, but that number fluctuates depending on the case volume at the federal court. Under the $78 a day rate, that brings in $1.7 million a year. Wheeler said the department could get an extra $200,000-$300,000 a year with the increase.
Wheeler has said the money he has been getting for holding these prisoners is not considered a bonus. That money is part of his department's revenue line on their budget so it is already spent. By having that money, they don't dip out of another pot of money.
Commissioners asked if the county was housing prisoners out of the county, and Wheeler said they currently have 16 prisoners in Moniteau County. Those are prisoners charged with state crimes, and the county is paying $50 a day to house them. Wheeler also said they only get the $26.20 a day from the state if the prisoner is found guilty of a felony and they go to the Department of Corrections. If they don't go to prison, the county gets no money for holding the prisoner.
"So it pays us to house a federal prisoner and ship out a state prisoner," Western District Commissioner Harry Otto noted.