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Sheriff disputes and corrections: commissary turned around and prisoner funds recorded
Summary
The sheriff’s office reported corrections to a 2024 commissary deficit and accepted the 2025 Board of Prisoner Financial Report; staff said $74,000 will be credited to the commissary and 2025 prisoner receipts totaled $574,738 with $417,618 in payouts.
The Delaware County Board of Commissioners accepted the commissary/inmate trust financial report and the sheriff's Board of Prisoner Financial Report for 2025 at its Jan. 13 meeting.
Sheriff Ray Thomas told the board the commissary account had been in the red due to misposted funds and contract-handling issues. Samantha Demereck, who worked on reconciling the account, said the commissary was $6,000 in the red when she began her review and that "$74,000 will soon be put into the commissary account which is now in the black." The board approved the commissary report by unanimous vote.
On the prisoner financial report, Demereck provided line-item totals for 2025: the jail received $574,738 in receipts and paid out $417,618; food costs were $185,625.41 and operational costs totaled $231,988. The board accepted the financial report after the presentation.
Why it matters: accurate commissary accounting affects inmate trust balances and audit compliance; the county noted auditor findings requiring annual filings after the 2023 audit. The reported receipts and expenditures establish the jail’s 2025 financial position for housing and feeding prisoners and related operations.
The board recorded acceptance of both reports and asked that the records remain available for public inspection as noted by the sheriff.
