Katherine Burgess|Memphis Commercial Appeal
Show Caption
The Shelby County Division of Corrections has started housing federal detainees after Mayor Lee Harris signed a contract with the U.S. Marshals Sept. 1, a move intended to help offset the deficit in corrections that comes from housing state inmates.
Although the contract allows for the division to house up to 500 federal inmates (454 men and 46 women), it currently houses 367, said Division Director Anthony Alexander. Alexander said he has no plans to go up to 500 while the department is struggling with staffing.
The inmates housed include federal pre-trial detainees as well as those who have been sentenced and are awaiting transportation to a Bureau of Prisons facility.
The contract will result in raising millions in revenue for the county, with the federal government paying $91.65 a day for the housing of each inmate.
This is in contrast to the $39 that the county receives for housing state inmates who have sentences longer than six years, which has meant the county has subsidized the cost of housing prisoners out of its general fund.
“If we can reduce the reliance on general fund dollars, there will be millions available for education, for programming for kids and for families, so this is really important, significant work,” Harris said in an interview Wednesday.
Although the contract will result in revenue for the county, it received criticism from commissioners Wednesday, who wondered why it had not been brought before their board.
Opinion: Mark Luttrell: Fix Shelby County Jail, avoid costly litigation
“It’s not efficient government and it’s certainly not respectful to us commissioners,” said Commissioner Amber Mills, who chairs the commission’s committee on law enforcement, corrections and courts.
Hope Shaw, chapter chair for AFSCME at the correctional center, said staff there are thankful for the revenue that’s coming in with the new inmates, but have concerns with how it has played out in real life.
“Our employees have come to me with a lot of complaints,” she said. “They don’t feel safe since the federal inmates have come.”
Mills said she only found out about the contract when she was inquiring to employees about how 12-hour shifts were going.
Alexander deferred to the mayor’s office on questions regarding why the contract was signed. The department is actively working to recruit more officers, he said, and is working with three incoming classes of recruits.
“We are doing everything we can within the administration to keep our fingers on the pulse of everything happening out in the department of corrections,” said Dwan Gilliom, chief administrative officer for the county, adding that the commission would receive a resolution accepting revenue from the contract soon.
Felisa Cox, contracts administrator for the county, said there was no requirement to bring the contract before the commission since it was revenue-generating. Expenses over $50,000 must receive approval of the commission.
Harris said there are a variety of things that are handled by the administration, not the commission.
“We regularly and repeatedly have talked about the stress financially that Shelby County is under and the detention facilities as one of the drivers of that financial strain and that this is a major undertaking, so I’ve regularly and personally expressed that to the commission and this is one of the strategies we’ll have to consider, reducing the cost or finding new revenue sources,” Harris said.
The contract comes after President Joe Biden’s administration in January ordered the termination of federal private prison contracts. The inmates, the first of whom were transported to Shelby County in September, come from the West Tennessee Detention Facility in Mason, which is run by CoreCivic.
The contract remains in effect unless inactivated by either party, with the per diem rate fixed for 24 months.
Shelby County Government is financially responsible for all medical care provided inside the facility, including medical, dental and mental health care as well as the cost of medical supplies and medications. The federal government is financially responsible for any medical care provided outside the facility and for specialized services not routinely provided within the facility such as dialysis.
An hourly rate of $20.97 will be paid to guards who provide transportation and escort services to and from medical facilities, to the U.S. Courthouse, to hearings conducted virtually and more.
Katherine Burgess covers county government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.
