JAIL BOARD RAISES INMATE HOUSING COSTS BY $10 FOR EACH INMATE A DAY; MARKING $15 TOTAL SINCE OCTOBER 2025….
BUT THE NEW COST OF INFLATION AND NEW COST RAISE ACCORDING TO THE JAIL BOARD’S MATH DOES NOT ADD UP
SEPTEMBER 8, 2026 – by WADE QUEEN
Lawrence County, Johnson County Martin County, and Magoffin County will now pay $10 more per day to house inmates at the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in Paintsville, in the latest move by the BSRDC jail board to address continuing financial problems at the facility.
The board voted on Thursday, August 27 to increase the daily county inmate rate from $36.34 to $46.34.
BSRDC jail board member Steve Rose said the increase, assuming the jail averages 125 inmates per day, would generate the revenue needed to cover the facility’s approximately $403,000 annual insurance bill.
At 125 inmates per day, the $10 increase would generate an additional $456,250 per year.
(But that estimated figure seems way off, as of 1:00 P.M. on Tuesday, September 8, there were 183 inmates that were incarcerated housed at the BSRDC.)
“This year it’s going to cost us $46 a head to keep them,” Steve Rose said. “That’s taking all the money we’ve got coming in here. There is nowhere else to get more money; and $10 only breaks even on insurance if we keep at least 125 inmates.”
The inmate rate increase follows years of financial trouble at the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center.
A financial audit presented to the board during this past October 2025 showed that the BSRDC recorded $2.95 million in revenues against $3.62 million in expenditures in fiscal 2025, leaving a reported deficit of $533,487 after including commissary income. Auditor Darrell Blair warned that the jail did not have enough cash to cover its bills and the following month’s payroll.
Less than three weeks later, the BSRDC jail board raised the county inmate rate by $5, from $31.34 to the current $36.34. At that October 2025 meeting, BSRDC bookkeeper Pam Burgess said the jail continued to operate in the red, with payroll running between $62,000 and $68,000 every two weeks.
Financial pressure continued this year. BSRDC jail Administrator Byron Hansford told the board in May 2026 that it cost about $45 per day to house an inmate, while the four member counties paid $36.34. Byron Hansford attributed part of the problem to declining inmate populations. At the same time, board members also pointed to employee raises, turnover and overtime of 400 to 600 hours per month.
During this past June 2026, the four member counties each contributed approximately $57,000 to cover the remaining balance on the jail’s insurance premium.
Jail board member Steve Rose, who moved to raise the inmate rate, said the board could re-examine the cost next year.
“Food has gone up, everything has gone up,” Steve Rose said at the meeting. “Employee salaries have gone up.”
The jail board also made the rate increase to be retroactive to August 1, 2026; meaning all four counties will have to unexpectedly pay up more money for nearly a month’s costs for every inmate that was housed by each county between from August 1 thru to August 27.
The Big Sandy Regional Detention Center board meets on the fourth Thursday of each month at 6:00 P.M. at the jail.
