By BRENDA TENBOER
Big Horn County Detention Center administrators are reeling from the effects of losing contracts with the state to hold Department of Corrections inmates.
The opening of the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution this year in Torrington means the DOC will now have enough room to house all of its own prisoners and a loss of about $260,000 in revenue for the county jail.
“The worst has happened,” said Sheriff Ken Blackburn. “We lost the state inmates and the economy tanked.”
The county jail, with more than $5.5 million still owed, may not be able to make its monthly payments in 2011, but the writing was on the wall. DOC made plans for the new Torrington prison public in 2008, according to a DOC spokesperson.
Melinda Brazzle, media representative, said “The reason that the Wyoming Medium Correctional Institution was built in Torrington and the other four prisons were expanded was so that we would have room for all Wyoming inmates in our Wyoming facilities,” she said. “So, part of the plan is that all inmates who were housed out-of-state due to lack of room in Wyoming prisons have been returned to Wyoming.
“We know that we can do a much better job helping inmates change their behavior if we have them during their entire incarceration,” Brazzale said.
All county sheriffs with whom the state had contracts were advised in October 2009 of the impending changes.
Brazzle said the reason DOC had the contract at the Big Horn County Detention Center was for use by those inmates who were elevated in custody level while at the Wyoming Honor Farm, meaning that they weren’t minimum custody inmates any longer, and for those inmates who were within a certain number of months of final release from the DOC system.
“We had no other place to house these inmates at that time,” she said.
Four county detention centers are feeling the loss of state dollars. “We currently have contracts at Goshen, Platte, Big Horn and Washakie (counties),” Brazzale said.  “All inmates will be pulled from those facilities by the end of February.”
On Friday, eight inmates were still being housed in Goshen, 21 in Platte, 10 in Big Horn, and two in Washakie, Brazzale said.
“The director has officially told the sheriffs in Goshen and Big Horn counties that, though we are pulling all our inmates at this time, we will continue to have the contracts with those two counties in place in case we have need for emergency housing,” Brazzale said.  “However, there are no plans at this time to utilize those facilities.”
Blackburn said he did receive notification and understands the philosophy behind the move, but is still left holding the empty bank bag.
The loan payment due to Wells Fargo for the 2010-2011 fiscal year is $258,385 or roughly the same amount of revenue projected to come in from DOC contracts.
The jail was initially a $6 million project with about half of the funds coming from the State Loan and Investment Board through a grant, according to Blackburn. The remainder, $3.82 million was financed by the county over a period of 30 years.
In 2002-2003 fiscal year, $191,030 was spent on interest with no principal payment for the first year. In fiscal year 2003-2004 a payment of $261,030 was made with $70,000 going to the principal component. The county made a FY 2004-2005 payment of $258,370, FY 2005-2006 climbed slightly to $260,640 and FY 2006-2007 was $262,640.
Payments for FY 2007-2008 totaled $259,360 with $179,360 in interest costs. FY 2008-2009 showed a $261,000 payment with $176,000 going to interest and $85,000 going to principal. In 2009-2010 the payment the loan payment was $262,345 with $90,000 paid to the principal.
According to the payment schedule obtained from the County Clerk’s Office, if the county were able to get a grant or receive stimulus funding, the payoff amount of the loan on May 10, 2011, will be $3,180,000 or $640,000 less than the total amount of the loan taken Nov. 10, 2002. A “purchase option price” is not available, according to the records, until May 2011.
Blackburn said he is hoping for the best, which would be some form of emergency funding whether it be stimulus funds or a grant from the state, but preparing for the worst.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” he said. “If we cut back staff then we will lose our ability to house federal inmates because they require two officers at all times.”
In 2007-2008, the jail saw $248,000 in revenue from holding state inmates at a rate of $55.34 per day. In 2008-2009 that figure climbed to $277,000.
In 2007-2008 the revenue generated from holding federal inmates for the U.S. Marshal’s Office totaled $793,000 while the 2008-2009 revenues generated by federal prisoners was $680,000.  Federal prisoners are held at a higher contract rate of $70.34 per day, according to Blackburn.
“We’re looking at every option,” he said.
Blackburn said if the facility loses its certification status to house federal inmates, the county may as well lock the doors.
“We house county inmates at a rate of $50 per day but what many people don’t understand is that we are saving the county money by getting a lot of these overhead costs paid for with contract inmates,” he said.
If the jail, which was built in 2001 to accommodate more than 50 prisoners, weren’t here the county would be paying out thousands to another facility to house our inmates, according to Blackburn.
“We’re doing everything we can to get the contract population up from other sources,” he said.
According to state records, 14 inmates (13 males and one female) sentenced for crimes committed in Big Horn County are currently incarcerated within the DOC system, including.
On an average day, roughly 12 inmates are doing time in the county jail for crimes committed in this county.
Greybull, Basin and Manderson also contract with the county jail to hold prisoners convicted in a municipal court at a cost of $50 per day.