By Lohr McKinstry
The Press-Republican
ELIZABETHTOWN, N.Y. — The new Essex County Jail may soon generate revenue by taking federal prisoners.
Sheriff Henry Hommes said this week that he’s been authorized to accept as many federal inmates as he has space for.
The 120-bed Essex County Jail in Lewis opened in October 2007. It is currently at about 30 percent of capacity.
Hommes said inmate counts for May varied between a low of 30 and a high of 48 prisoners.
Toured jail
The federal prisoners who would be housed at the Essex County Jail would be from the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, Hommes said.
“We had a meeting with U.S. Marshals (Service). The Commission of Correction has permitted us to have an unlimited number of federal inmates. They (marshals) came up and toured our jail.”
The State Commission of Correction is the agency that regulates local jails, and it must give Essex County permission to house outside inmates.
Hommes said the paperwork to house federal inmates has been filed, but he was told it will take several months to process.
Most of the Marshals Service prisoners housed in other lockups are those awaiting court action on federal narcotics charges.
“The number they (marshals) were talking was about 20" prisoners, Hommes said.
Pay for counties
Clinton County Jail and other county jails in the region with excess space also accept federal inmates. Depending on the facility, the Marshals Service pays $40 to $90 a day per inmate, in addition to mileage costs for transporting the prisoners and incentive pay for the jail’s deputies.
The Marshals Services says it negotiates a per-diem price based on what it costs a county to house its own inmates.
Hommes said part of the arrangement would be for deputies to transport them to and from federal court in Albany. The closest U.S. Marshals Service’s Northern District offices are in Albany and Syracuse.
Nationwide, the Marshals Service has custody of more than 55,000 federal inmates, most housed in local jails that provide contract services to the government.
The U.S. Marshals Service says jail space to house federal prisoners has become a critical need for them.
Federal crimes
Marshals Service prisoners have been charged in a federal court with a crime. Apart from who arrested them, the inmates are turned over to the Marshals Service once a federal magistrate has arraigned them. They are then in the custody of the Marshals Service until they are sentenced or released.
Court decisions have held that federal prisoners who attack local guards can be charged with assault on a federal officer, since the local correction officers are assisting federal authorities in the “custody, care and safekeeping of federal prisoners.”
Hommes said the Commission of Correction is now allowing him to house up to 10 males and 10 females from other jurisdictions, in addition to the federal prisoners.
He said the county got $9,800 in May for boarding outside inmates.
Copyright 2008 The Press-Republican