From the Office of the Sheriff Sheriff Dennis L. Dotson

For Immediate Release

NEWS RELEASE

Date: June 21, 2006

Sheriff Dotson announced today that effective July 1, 40 additional beds will become available in the jail. Several months ago, it was announced that an unused housing unit in the jail would be opened, allowing an additional 28 inmates to be held. Funding to open this housing unit was made available by eliminating three jail sergeant positions and a vacant ½ time warrant’s clerk position.

The funding will be used to create four corrections deputy positions. The Board of Commissioners readily supported funding a fifth deputy position to properly staff this housing unit. Under this plan the jail cap would be increased from 101 to 129 inmates.

But, the brainstorming didn't stop there. A larger group of jail staff presented another idea to the Sheriff. That plan involves the following:

Transfer the jail's current female population, which is limited to 15, to this larger housing unit with 28 cells. This unused unit was designed for the female population, but never utilized for that purpose.

Additionally, the plan calls for installing a second bunk in six of the cells, which are large enough to accommodate two inmates. This will allow the jail to hold a total of 34 females. The Benton County Sheriff contracts for 20 male inmates to be housed in our jail. In addition to paying for the housing of 20 Benton County inmates, this contract provides Lincoln County with substantial revenue to operate the Lincoln County jail.

The Benton County Sheriff has agreed to send a mixture of male and female inmates to our jail. For every Benton County female inmate we receive, this creates a bed for an additional Lincoln County male offender. It appears that the Benton County female population will vary from five to ten.

The male housing units in the jail were examined and several other cells that can accommodate double bunking were identified. This will allow the total population of the jail to increase from 101 to 141. The breakdown is as follows:

Currently: 15 female/86 male

Proposed: 34 female/107 male

While this is great news for law-biding citizens and bad news for criminal offenders in Lincoln County, more good news is that opening this housing unit will be achieved by requiring additional funding for only one corrections deputy position rather than having to provide additional funding for five new deputy positions.

This is but another example of the Sheriff's Office evaluating operations and implementing changes to improve the level of service to our citizens, while holding down costs.

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