By Ray King
Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr., said Tuesday that efforts to limit the number of inmates booked into the adult detention center has helped the county financially.
Woods was a guest on the Oldies 101.3 morning show Tuesday morning.
The adult detention center has a capacity of 316 but since March when the first cases of COVID-19 were reported, the number of people who were locked up averaged between 165 and 170 in an effort to reduce the spread of the virus.
“Unlike several prisons in the state, there have been no cases of COVID-19 reported at the jail after the decision was made to restrict the population to serious or violent offenders.
As to saving money, he said that with fewer inmates “we’re feeding less so there’s less (food) costs, there’s less medical costs, less housing costs so it’s been successful on the financial side.”
The jail has also found another way to make money, by introducing e-cigarettes to the detainees.
Woods said he first heard about the idea from a jail administrator in another county.
“I thought about it for three or four months,” he said. “I did research and not only jail profits but also the ability to reduce the contraband coming into the jail and also reduce jail violence and fights.”
He said the program was implemented and profits for July were over $5,000.
“It’s not tobacco, it’s vapor,” Woods said. “Our costs were about $1,000 but if we keep our population like it is now, we’re looking at making about $9,000 a month.”
