Jail boarding costs to increase for Murray Co. prisoners

Lyon County approves updated boarding contract

MARSHALL -- Starting in January, Murray County will be paying more to hold prisoners in the Lyon County Jail. On Tuesday, Lyon County Commissioners approved updates to the county's contract with Murray County for jail inmate boarding services.

Under an addendum to the contract, the cost to hold a Murray County inmate at the Lyon County Jail would go from $55 a day to $65 a day. Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen said the increase would help Lyon County cover costs for facility maintenance and inmate housing requirements.

Murray County has contracted with Lyon County for jail services since October 2010. The cost for Murray County to send inmates to Marshall was originally set at $50 a day for each inmate. The cost was later increased to $55 a day, and has stayed that way for several years, Wallen said.

"It's been some time since we reviewed that agreement," he said.

Wallen said he had discussed increasing the cost per inmate with the Murray County Sheriff, and he had agreed to a new rate of $65 a day per inmate. If commissioners approved the addendum to the contract, the new rates would take effect on Jan. 1.

Commissioners asked Wallen if the $65-per-day charge would cover the cost of boarding inmates from Murray County.

"It's hard to determine a true cost," Wallen said. Some costs of running the jail remain the same regardless of how many inmates there are. For example, he said, jail staffing needs to be kept at certain levels. Running the county jail was not a money-making business, Wallen said.

Wallen answered a few other questions from commissioners about boarding jail inmates. While Murray County contracts with Lyon County for jail services, the Lyon County Jail does sometimes hold inmates from other counties too. For example, Lincoln County has sometimes brought inmates to Lyon County if they couldn't properly house them at the Lincoln County Jail, Wallen said.

Wallen said other counties are also charged for medical expenses for their inmates.

Commissioners voted to approve increasing the Murray County boarding fee to $65 a day per inmate.

Commissioner Rick Anderson said he thought that in the future, the county should review the jail services contract annually