Home incarceration could fix overcrowding in Scott Co.

SCOTT COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) — There could soon be fewer inmates in Scott County’s jail.

As with jails across the state and the country, the Scott County Detention Center is struggling with overcrowding.

The county is looking into home incarceration for non-violent offenders.

Jailer Derran Broyles says the overcrowding is a strain on the staff, facility and inmates. He says it’s a safety issue.

Not to mention, costly.

Broyles says the jail currently has 139 inmates and only 86 beds.

“Once you go above the number 86 they get a mat and we find them a place on the floor,” says Broyles.

The home incarceration program would allow about 10-15 non-violent, non-sexual, low-level offenders to be released home, wearing a GPS ankle monitor, with a judge’s approval.

County Judge-Executive Joe Covington says the program would save the county money.

“We want to be good stewards of tax dollars,” says Covington.

They will be saving money by eliminating some medical costs for the jail.

“We have some inmates that have some extraordinary expenses like medical expenses that really are a drain on the overall budget of the facility,” says jailer Broyles.

Home incarceration will allow them to go to the doctor but at their own expense, not the county’s.

Even without major medical costs, housing inmates is expensive.

Broyles says it costs about $35 a day to keep one inmate at the jail. It would cost around $14 a day for home incarceration.

“There are other jails in the state that utilize it successfully and I think that we can be another one of those jails that utilize it successfully here. Successfully for the community and for the inmates,” says Broyles.

Covington says they’re in the early stages so it’s hard to say when the county could see it happening. He says he hopes in the next six months.

A proposal to bid out on the home incarceration program will be posted in a couple weeks.