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Jail cells are harder sell

May 5, 2009 - Morgan County Chief Deputy David Salzman photographs for an investigation outside of Versailles, Missouri. Through contract funding from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Morgan County Sheriff's Department receives approximately one third (about 1.1 million dollars) of their 3 million dollar annual budget by the daily housing of nearly 45-50 illegal aliens awaiting deportation hearings at their jail. (Erik M. Lunsford/P-D)By Phillip O'Connor
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/10/2009

VERSAILLES, MO. — Housing illegal immigrants helped Morgan County Sheriff Jim Petty fill his empty jail, hire nearly a dozen new deputies and replace a fleet of run-down police cruisers with newer SUVs.

"When it's all said and done, it's been a great thing for my business," he said of the county's contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Last year, holding detainees generated 10 percent of the county's budget.

Several communities in Missouri and Illinois gambled on illegal immigration as an economic development tool, using money earned from housing detainees to subsidize operations in their counties, most of which are small and rural. They built or upgraded jails, urged on, they say, by immigration enforcement officials anxious to find space to house a growing number of detainees.

But in recent months, the

number of immigrants being detained in some counties has dropped, in some cases precipitously. That, in turn, left sizable budget shortfalls to confront. In some counties, the ICE contract annually accounted for as much as 60 percent of the jail population and half the law enforcement budget.

"We do miss them," Lincoln County Sheriff's Lt. Andy Binder said of the 30 to 40 immigration detainees his 216-bed jail averaged on any given day over the last six years. The county hasn't housed a detainee in months, he said. MORE METRO
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"In this economy, it's not easy to find $150,000 lying around in a small county," Binder said. "It hurts."

Officials say the loss of revenue means budget cuts are on the way. Several of the counties expect to lay off jailers and those who transport detainees, if the numbers don't pick up.

No one is sure why the numbers are declining. ICE officials say there has been no change in policy regarding immigration detention. "(The) detention population is constantly fluctuating based on a variety of factors," said ICE spokeswoman Gail Montenegro.

Some experts suspect that the economic downturn and increased enforcement of immigration laws may be discouraging some from entering the country. None of that speculation helps the folks who run the 240-bed Tri-County Jail in Ullin, Ill., about 20 miles north of Cairo in Pulaski County.

Last month, the county housed as many as 194 immigration detainees a day and talked of expanding. On Thursday, the number had dropped to 134. An additional 26 moved out that night.

At that rate, it won't be long before the county is confronted with serious economic consequences, said Gayla Jones, who oversees the jail contract for Pulaski County. The ICE revenue isn't a luxury the county can do without.

"It keeps us running down here in a small jail like this, it really does," Jones said.

MAKING ENDS MEET

Leaders of Morgan County, which borders Lake of the Ozarks, faced a money problem almost a decade ago.

The tourist haven had built a new jail just off the courthouse square that was bigger than needed in hopes that they could charge surrounding counties to house inmates.

"We needed a way to generate some income," Sheriff Petty said.

Unfortunately, several of the surrounding counties had the same idea. They built their own jails, and Morgan County's new 93-bed facility often sat two-thirds empty.

In 2003, Petty approached commissioners with a plan to fill the beds with immigrants facing deportation. It was a money maker from the start. Morgan County received $65 a day for each immigrant housed, $25 more than it charged for housing inmates from surrounding counties.

"It wasn't hitting the jackpot ... but it's given us a little freedom to operate the way we ought to be," Petty said of the contract.

Over the years, the county spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to expand to 130 beds and make ICE-required upgrades such as building a new recreation area, and hiring a dietitian and full-time nurse. They added jailers and bought vans and hired drivers to transport detainees twice daily to Kansas City.

Last year, the county averaged about 45 detainees a day, which generated $1.1 million. But starting about January, the number of detainees began to drop steadily.

On a day last week, the county jail housed 27 detainees, a figure that, should it continue, could force Petty to cut staff.

"It's a concern," Petty said. "We're going to struggle to make ends meet."

Leonard Earnest, Morgan County's presiding commissioner, said he was disturbed that the decline came when ICE officials had been encouraging the county to build a separate facility to house women.

"My God, I'm glad we didn't do that," Earnest said. "This is bad enough as it is."

NO VACANCY

Not every county is suffering.

Some counties, such as Platte near Kansas City and McHenry near Chicago, have more residents, larger tax bases and heftier law enforcement budgets of which the ICE contract is only a small portion.

McHenry County saw the average number of detainees drop from 348 a day in January to 281 in April, but there didn't seem to be too much concern. "I don't think we're worried we're going to go out of business," said Patrick Firman, a deputy chief with the sheriff's department.

A few counties are even flourishing.

"There's been times when we were packed," said Junior DeLay, clerk of Mississippi County, where the number of detainees in the 104-bed jail has been on the rise in recent months. "We could have posted a no-vacancy sign outside."

Still, election of a new president had Mississippi County leaders pondering the future, he said.

"That was a concern of ours, going into a new administration and new immigration policy, what impact would that have on our inmate population?" DeLay said. "So far, we haven't seen a negative impact. That isn't to say we won't see one."

In Christian County, Sheriff Joey Kyle said the detainee business was going strong. Last year, the county earned $600,000 on the contract, and local officials are considering a separate facility to house even more immigrants.

Back in Morgan County, Sheriff Petty is faced with laying off a half-dozen deputies.

"It's pretty devastating," Petty said.

He's optimistic the number will bounce back, but if it doesn't, he has no regrets about entering the detainee business.

"It was a struggle to get," he said. "But it was very good to have."


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