RENTING JAIL BEDS

With the surge in new jail construction there is soon to be an abundance of unused beds in Indiana.  All of the new jails are being constructed in anticipation of their own growth in the next 20 years.  Now it is not unusual for a county to drive an inmate 50 to 100 miles to find an open bed at any cost.

The daily charge typically is $35/day which has been around forever.  It was once established by the DOC in the 90’s.  The smart counties are now upping that to $40/$45/day.  My suggestion is to build for your own growth, not on the assumption you can rent extra beds to other counties and make money.  If, by a slim chance, someone close will want to rent those future beds, great.  However, you cannot pay for the cost of a bed and its operational costs on even $45/day.

When your jail is complete so will about 30 or 40 others all with excess beds.  Once these are built, then the market of new jails will drop dramatically.  Of course this assumes that the state will not have the inclination to send Level 5’s back to your county.