BY: CAITY COYNE – DECEMBER 7, 2023 6:00 AM
Millions of dollars will be released to county commissions across the state by the end of this year as part of their share of opioid settlement funds, and now local leaders are grappling with a tough decision: whether or not to use the influx of cash to get ahead on burdensome jail bills.
Jail bills are charged to each county annually. The total amount charged depends on the number of incarcerated people from each locality that are being held in regional jails. In 2022, jail bills cost the state’s 55 counties a total of $45 million, with many local governments listing the charge as their largest annual expense.
“Every year the jail bills are overwhelming for every county, that’s all there is to it,” said Dutch Staggs, who sits on the Mineral County Commission. “We’ve been fortunate enough that our jail bill has been down recently, but I know that isn’t always going to be the case. It’s a burden and a big one.”
Staggs said that, to date, the main focus of discussion between him and his two county commissioner colleagues has been on using the money for the jail bill.
“The only thing we have talked about officially is putting the money into the jail bill. That’s been most of our talks, and I am only one vote on this [commission], but I really hope we don’t end up seeing all this money go toward it,” Staggs said.
Counties and municipalities — which are also receiving their own pots of money this year — can spend their opioid settlement dollars on any expenditure authorized under a memorandum of understanding filed by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
The outlined uses are vast, having only the requirement to put the money toward abating and responding to the opioid epidemic. Law enforcement and jail investments are an approved use, but some question whether they are the best use.
“It’s complicated — if we did use our money for the jail bill, well yeah, it would free up that money for other county projects and investments,” Staggs said. “I understand the argument I suppose, I just don’t think that’s what we need to be focusing on when it comes to the opioid crisis.”
According to documents obtained by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy from the state last year, Mineral County was charged a little over $522,000 in the 2022 fiscal year for its jail bill. The funds the county is expected to receive from opioid settlements would have covered 83% to 92% of that charge.
Betsy Frohnapfel, the county administrator in Marshall County, said commissioners there have already made a decision to not use the money for their jail bill. In 2022, the jail bill cost Marshall County nearly $557,000.
“We have been fortunate. We have money budgeted for our jails and the last few years we’ve been able to keep our budget to where we can afford the jail bills. We know other places aren’t as lucky,” Frohnapfel said. “It might make sense for other counties to put their money into the jail bill, but not us. Doing that wouldn’t provide us with anyone who can provide treatment or help keep people from using drugs. That’s really what we feel we should be doing.”
In Mercer County — where commissioners are expected to receive between about $249,000 and $275,000 — Commissioner Greg Puckett is in the same position of Staggs, urging his colleagues to look at uses for the money outside of law enforcement and jail.
Puckett has worked in the substance use treatment and recovery field for several years.
“I’m only one voice of three, you know. So will our money go toward the jail bill?” Puckett asked. “Well, not if I can help it. Paying off your jail bill does nothing to solve this problem, it only continues to perpetuate it.”
If Mercer’s share of funds did go towards the jail bill, it would cover somewhere between 16% and 18% of what the county owed in 2022.
“That, to me, is throwing this money — this opportunity — away,” Puckett said. “If you’re not investing this money you’re losing it, and if you’re only paying off debt, well you’re not really receiving anything.”
Jail bill reform efforts
Each county pays its jail bill at the same rate, but the totals differ depending on how many people from a county are being held at a regional jail. Until July, a cap was in place that limited the amount each county would be charged per an inmate at $48.25 per a day.
A bill that would have extended this cap into 2024 died during the 2023 regular session. Since July 1, the per diem jail costs have increased to $54.48 per an inmate.
A separate bill that did pass — House Bill 3552 — allows counties to be reimbursed by certain municipalities for up to five days of jail costs for an inmate charged with specific crimes. According to that bill, if counties have fewer than 80% of the beds allotted to them filled, the rate could drop to $43.58. If they are more than 120% over capacity for their reserved beds, however, the bill could increase to $65.38.
This means that, moving forward, the cost of jail bills could vary greatly county-to-county and even month-to-month.
In addition, West Virginia’s regional jail system is historically overcrowded while also being understaffed. Last year, Gov. Jim Justice called a state of emergency for the jail system’s chronic understaffing and in August, lawmakers passed a suite of bills during a special session meant to improve working conditions in the jails. A bill that would have potentially decreased the number of short-term inmates by overhauling the state’s cash bond system, however, failed.
If passed, the law would have changed bail procedures and lowered the number of people being held on misdemeanor charges without a conviction, which also would have decreased the jail bills.
In September, Kanawha County Public Defender Ronni Sheets told lawmakers that there were 500 people in the state’s regional jail system who were accused of committing misdemeanors but who had not been convicted by a court. To put that in perspective, only about 250 people incarcerated at that time were serving a sentence because of a misdemeanor conviction. Counties, however, were still on the hook to pay for those 500 inmates.
In the regular session, lawmakers did approve one piece of legislation that could cut down on the number of people incarcerated in the state and, in turn, lower the cost of jail bills. Senate Bill 633, which went into effect in June, introduced policies for the first time requiring judges and magistrates to set hearing dates within five days of someone who is arrested on a capias, commonly referred to as a bench warrant.
According to the state Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation 2022 annual report, more than 4,900 people — roughly 1 in 8 inmates — in the regional jails were charged with capiases, the highest number of any charge. This has increased greatly since 2012, when just 1,990 people were being held on capias charges.
The hope is that by requiring hearings to happen in the five day time frame, more people will be released sooner, limiting the amount their incarceration costs counties and the negative impacts that can come with being jailed.
Where some county leaders want to see their money go
Staggs is hopeful that Mineral County will use its new funds — estimated to be between about $569,000 and $627,000 this year, according to a West Virginia Watch analysis — to invest in community programs that hit the root of the ongoing drug and opioid epidemic.
“I want to see us get some kind of community center where we could host [Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous] meetings and classes for students. I want our money to go more toward education, to target our younger children and help break the cycle of addiction in their families and the stigma that comes with it,” Staggs said. “Of course, what we’re definitely going to do is up in the air, but I hope we can see some of it directly support families and impacted community members.”
Last month, the Mineral County Commission formed an advisory committee with various community members to discuss potential uses for the funds. The group will be responsible for sifting through requests from residents and local organizations regarding use of the funds and presenting them to the commission. Staggs is the only elected official in the working group. While they have no power — all allocations of the funds must come directly from the county commission — he hopes to see the ideas they discuss taken seriously.
“We will take ideas from the community and we can also come up with our own ideas,” Staggs said. “We thought a committee would be the best route — we can talk through ideas with residents and not bog down the commission’s time chasing all of these requests.”
In Mercer County, Puckett hopes to see the estimated quarter of a million invested in community partnerships.
“Partnerships, in my opinion, are how we are going to take this money the furthest,” Puckett said. “Talk to local coalitions working on these issues — they likely have data, they have direction, they have partners and sort of the lay of the land on what the issues are and what works when it comes to resolving them. We don’t have to build everything up from scratch — there is already work being done.”
Puckett said Mercer’s leaders are also looking toward working with municipalities, some of which — including the city of Bluefield — are slated to receive more money than their governing counties.
“I think everywhere, leaders should be sitting down and having a conversation about how much is coming into their county as a whole,” Puckett said. “Talk it out: ‘OK, this is how much we’ve got, what’s the county next to me getting? Can we work regionally? Work collaboratively?’ That’s what I’m trying to do here.”
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