Help is on the way for county jails that hold parole violators. But is it enough?

Reimbursement rate of $95 per day still lags behind county jail burdens

PIERRE — Dozens of parolees sit in county jails every day awaiting adjudication of new violations before being released or sent back to prison.

In Minnehaha County alone, more than 90 inmates or more might be in jail on a Department of Corrections hold at any given day. And while the state reimburses the counties for some of the costs associated with holding parole violators, the daily reimbursement rate set in 2014 no longer is enough to offset those expenses for counties.

And while relief is on the way, it might not be enough.

“There’s been increased costs to offender incarceration across the jails with inflation, just as we’ve seen inside our state prisons — inflation of utilities, salaries, food and supplies to operate jails,” Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko said Thursday before the House Local Government Committee unanimously approved an increase to the daily reimbursement rate counties are entitled to.

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