Commissioners Consider Taking In Montana Inmates
Written by Andrew-Rossi on August 31, 2018
Park County officials are weighing the idea of housing inmates from Carbon County, Montana in the Park County Detention Center.
Sheriff Scott Steward told the Commissioners earlier this month that the Detention Center is no longer packed with local inmates, and that the County could look at housing inmates from Montana as a source of revenue.
According to an article in the Powell Tribune, there is no jail in Carbon County — which encompasses Red Lodge, Bridger, Joliet, Fromberg, Belfry and several other small communities in southern Montana. They’ve been looking for a more affordable place to house their inmates for several years, and the Carbon County commissioners approached Park County with the proposal four years ago.
However, at the time, Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael said that state law prevented Park County from accepting out-of-state prisoners. That law was changed last year, but by that time the jail in Cody was almost at capacity.
But over the past year, the article says that the average population has dropped down to around 59 inmates, just over half of capacity. So Steward told the Commissioners that he would consider the possibility of housing Montana inmates, at a proposed rate of $65 per day per inmate.
