Survey: half of county jails over capacity in 2009

• Presentation of survey results and conclusions (PDF)

By David Johnson
NCACC Intern

State prison population data collected annually helps guide planning and decision-making at the state level. The General Assembly's Fiscal Research Division issues reports with current trends and financial consequences of these trends. Recognizing that such data collection and analysis for county jails would be useful for counties, the NCACC surveyed county jail officials to collect as much data as possible to allow local and state leaders to effectively evaluate current conditions and plan for future needs.

David Johnson, an MPA student at N.C. State University who completed a six-month internship with the Association at the end of April, presented his research on county jails to a critical review group of interested stakeholders, including representatives from the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, the N.C. Sheriff’s Association and legislative staff, on April 15. (Photo by Jason King)

Sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, jail administrators (majors, captains, lieutenants), and county managers were surveyed for statistical information, while finance directors and officers were surveyed for financial data. All 100 counties submitted information, though the level of detail varied by county.

The most common assessment of jail space is percentage of capacity – a value determined by dividing a facility's rated capacity by its average daily population. This value was calculated for all counties, which were then grouped based on percentage ranges. Fifty of 100 counties reported that their facilities operated at more than 100 percent capacity on average during the 2009 calendar year. The survey also found that 19 counties were overcrowded every day, while only 35 counties were never overcrowded.

During the 2009 calendar year, North Carolina's total county jail inmate population increased by 1,541 inmates to 19,880 inmates – a population increase of 7.75 percent. If that growth rate is projected forward to 2014, the combined county jail population will surpass 25,000 inmates. Current rated capacity for all county jails is less than 21,000.

In 2009, the state prison population increased by 3 percent, meaning that county jail populations increased at twice the rate of state prison population during that span. It is difficult to determine the specific causes behind this difference, but at least one area stands out: the number of inmates in county jails awaiting transfer to state prison facilities. Eighty-two counties reported holding 910 inmates. Removing these inmates from the increase of 1,541 inmates lowers the growth rate of jail inmate populations for 2009 to 3.3 percent.

The age of a facility is an important factor related to the extent of overcrowding. This effect is most evident when counties are grouped by the annual number of overcrowded days. County jail facilities with no overcrowding had an average age of 8.2 years, while counties with at least one day of overcrowding had an average age of 13 years.

Five counties are currently constructing new jail facilities. Existing facilities in these counties were overcrowded an average of 362 days in 2009. This simple statistic represents a dilemma faced by many counties: Often, administrators are put in the position of accepting overcrowding until it is absolutely necessary to construct new facilities or expand current ones.

Financial responses

The surveys completed by finance directors and officers contained financial information for many facets of jail operation, including total operating costs, salaries (full-time and part-time), employee benefits, inmate medical care, transportation of inmates and miscellaneous.

The categorical values reported in the financial survey were compared to a county's average daily population of inmates. The per inmate costs were used to determine whether any trends existed in categorical values among counties. Three areas looked at closely were total operating costs, medical care costs and transportation costs.

Using total operating costs and average daily population, a per inmate rate was calculated to provide a daily per inmate cost and an annual per inmate cost of incarceration. The average cost of incarceration for all county jail facilities in the state was $58.85 per inmate daily and $21,480 per inmate annually. These values are similar to minimum security prison costs reported by the N.C. Department of Correction that show average per prisoner incarceration costs were $59.17 daily and $21,597 annually.

Minimum-security prisons and county jails differ in many ways, most notably the availability and extent of services provided to incarcerated persons. Since county jails are designed to hold inmates for relatively brief periods, they often do not provide many supplementary programs aimed at reducing recidivism levels: mental health services, dental services, educational programs, work programs, transitional programs, counseling and treatment programs, chemical dependency programs, prison life programs, and/or recreational programs.

Survey results allow for calculation of daily per inmate incarceration costs. These values varied widely across the state. In general, rural counties in eastern and western North Carolina had higher per inmate operating costs. Counties with large inmate populations often had lower per inmate operating costs, but this was not always the case. Mecklenburg and Gaston counties had operating costs well above the state average even though their jail inmate populations were large.

Average costs for inmate medical care varied by delivery method. Facilities incorporating a mix of medical care options – contracted services, health department services and in-house services – had the lowest average cost at $5.31 per inmate daily. Contracted services had an average cost of $7.03 per inmate daily; health department services had an average cost of $7.73 per inmate daily; and in-house services had the highest per inmate cost at $7.97 daily. These results suggest that counties might be able to reduce medical costs by evaluating their delivery method and comparing costs from various medical providers.

Costs for transportation varied widely across the state and ranged from $25 per inmate annually to almost $500 per inmate annually. Jail location within the county is a contributing factor to transportation costs. Newer court/jail campuses show significant cost savings when compared to downtown jails and remote jails. Counties with the highest transportation costs are often located in rural areas of eastern and western North Carolina.

Opinion responses

Officials from 85 counties completed survey opinion questions to supplement statistical data and provide more understanding of jail conditions and issues. A summary of responses follows:

• County managers and jail administrators cited overcrowding, life-safety issues and outdated facilities among their most pressing concerns.
• One-fourth of counties expected current facilities to be used less than five years. On the opposite end, 45 percent of counties expected existing facilities to operate for at least 20 years.
• While not operated directly by sheriff's departments or jail administrators, local corrections programs offered in many county facilities programs have an effect on inmate populations and recidivism within communities. Counties do not have identical programs but some common ones include pretrial release programs, community service work programs, substance abuse treatment programs, electronic monitoring, general education development programs, day reporting centers and sentencing services.