CATLETTSBURG —
The Boyd County Fiscal Court is backtracking on plans to switch companies to provide tracking services for defendants awaiting trial.
The decision to renegotiate with its current provider instead is based in large part on the preference of the judges that use the program, said Boyd County Judge-Executive William “Bud” Stevens. Boyd officials will meet with BWH Security next week to hammer out a long-term contract to continue services, Stevens said.
Last month, fiscal court officials announced plans to pursue an agreement with Lexington-based Corrisoft, which was offering a contract to provide ankle and cell phone monitoring that would have cost the county $5 a day for each participant. Under that contract, Boyd County Detention Center employes would be trained to track defendants’ movements.
By contrast, BWH’s program costs $7 a day in addition to a $25 per week monitoring charge, which is paid by the participant. Monitoring is provided entirely by the private company. In cases where an individual is indigent, the county picks up the entire tab for the program.
Stevens said after discussing the potential change with the fiscal court, he spoke to the judges who use it and they prefer BWH.
“They said they were very happy and had no issues whatsoever,” Stevens said. “We cannot put money in front of public safety. With the local boys we had in place, the judges were very satisfied. We don’t have a program without the judges. They put them (participants) in it,” he said. He described BWH’s program as “hands-on” compared to Corrisoft.
Scott Ball, CEO of BWH, who is also a Boyd County sheriff’s deputy, said the fiscal court was not comparing apples to apples when it discussed Corrisoft’s contract offer. BWH provides much more than just the ankle bracelet monitoring, he said. It is also licensed to drug-test and does home searches, which judges may prescribe as part of the conditions of home confinement.
BWH also provides domestic violence tracking devices and employs licensed police officers who can respond quickly if an individual violates home confinement and needs to be found quickly and returned to jail. Approximately 40 defendants are utilizing the program today, including some who live outside Boyd County.
In the last 18 months alone, Boyd County has saved an estimated $437,215 in jail expenses under the tracking program, said BWH partner and CFO Scott Wamsley.
He said additional savings have come from intangibles such as health care costs. For example, several home- confined participants have had serious medical issues arise, which had they been in jail their health care tabs would have been picked up by taxpayers, he said.
Ball said it costs approximately $50 a day to incarcerate an individual at the BCDC, compared to the $7 a day the county pays for the tracking program.
CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.
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