Hardin County detention center reports average daily population near 579, rising medical costs from dialysis and 307 inmates on medications

Josh Lindbloom, detention center administrator, presented the March operating report to the fiscal court on April 8, reporting population, medical and program statistics and describing the center’s role in recent regional evacuations.

Lindbloom said lodging income for March was $303,240.40 and that intake for the month was 530 and releases were 541. He gave an average daily population of 579 including temporary releases and 541 without temporary releases. He said the jail is “slowly dwindling down” its state-prisoner population and noted recent changes to classification rules that could affect counts in July.

On healthcare, Lindbloom said 307 inmates were on medication and the facility had 36 outside appointments and two emergency-room visits in the month. He highlighted rising costs for dialysis: several inmates required dialysis and Lindbloom said the county now has three inmates receiving dialysis, which he said contributes thousands of dollars in weekly costs.

Lindbloom described inmate work program activity, including road cleanup (64.6 miles cleaned and 1,230 bags of trash collected) and a recent tire-collection event where inmates and deputies collected a large number of tires. He also said the jail accepted 37 inmates temporarily transferred from a neighboring county that had been evacuated because of flooding.

Why it matters: the detention center’s population, medical caseload and special medical appointments (dialysis) affect county costs and detention operations. Lindbloom said outside medical costs for chronic care are a significant and rising budget pressure.

Ending: Lindbloom told the court the jail will continue to assist county recovery operations and that inmate work programs remain an important county resource.