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Douglas County corrections director reports $2.1M favorable budget variance, highlights pretrial savings and new mental-health addition
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Summary
Director Michael Myers told commissioners the Department of Corrections is $2,106,994 under budget through the ninth month, reported March pretrial programming saved the county $799,340 in detention costs, and updated the board on staff promotions and a mental-health housing addition due for substantial completion in October.
Director Michael Myers told the Douglas County Board of Commissioners on April 28 that the Department of Corrections was $2,106,994 under budget through the ninth month of the fiscal year and that March overtime spending totaled $276,531.
Myers detailed operational metrics, including 1,402 admissions and 1,422 releases in the month, an average daily population of 1,094, and an average length of stay of 31 days. He said 65% of the current population are minorities and 22% are homeless or nearly homeless. "Pretrial release saved Douglas County $799,340 in detention costs in March," Myers said, summarizing a calculation based on bed days saved by GPS and other programs.
Myers announced two promotions in March — Brian Mulvaney and Andrew Dunning to the rank of captain — and said the department reorganized responsibilities to create overlap among captains to reduce previous siloing. Captains Mulvaney and Dunning introduced themselves and outlined priorities such as training, staffing analytics and compliance work.
On programming, Myers reported community corrections and reentry services produced measurable operational impacts: GPS supervision and other alternatives translated into thousands of jail bed days saved, therapeutic housing admitted 66 individuals, and pretrial release saved detention costs. He said 99 percent of people on pretrial release remained arrest-free and 99.3 percent remained free of violent offenses in the month measured.
The director also described medical and mental-health activity: 43 individuals were sent for emergency medical care in March, with 18 hospital admissions totaling 66 inpatient days — a notable increase. He reported progress on external audits (PREA completed; NCC HC audit scheduled for May 8 and an American Correctional Association audit planned for October).
Myers updated the board on construction of a new mental-health addition to the corrections campus, saying McCarthy Construction estimates the building will be substantially complete in October and turnover to the department in December, with inmate moves anticipated in early January. "Given that the construction completion date will be in the midst of the holiday season, I will anticipate that we will start moving inmates into the new addition in early January," he said.
Commissioners pressed for more context on several metrics. Commissioner Kavanaugh asked for the annualized per-diem calculation behind the bed-day savings and for an historical look-back on staffing rates; Myers said the $799,340 figure was for March and staff can provide monthly and annual figures on request. Several commissioners pressed for further discussion on racial disproportionality in the jail population and asked staff to return with additional breakdowns and historical comparisons.
The board took no formal action on policy changes during the presentation; commissioners directed staff to provide further data to support budgeting and future policy discussion.
