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Pittsburg County jail reports stable population, contract rate increase to $65 per day and completed capital work
Summary
Jail Administrator Jeff Daniels told commissioners the facility held 159 inmates, completed a glass-replacement project and finished new agency contracts that raise outside-agency payments to $65 per inmate per day. Daniels said phone-revenue changes are cutting a formerly steady income stream.
The Pittsburg County jail reported a total population of 159 inmates at the June 29 commissioners meeting, including 52 federal detainees, and administrators said the facility has completed recent capital work and renegotiated outside contracts. Jeff Daniels, the jail administrator, told the board the glass-replacement project is finished and that "all new contracts with agency have been completed for the rate increase to $65.00 a day."
Daniels said that federal housing revenues remain an important source of income but that other revenue streams tied to inmate phone services are shrinking after recent legal and regulatory developments. He told the board that a telephone industry settlement and related litigation with NCIC and the Federal Communications Commission are reducing what the jail can expect from commissary and phone time sources.
The administrator also reviewed staffing and capital items. Daniels described ongoing challenges tied to the county's statutory funding priorities — "by statute the jails are at the bottom of the list for payouts on fines and costs" — and the operational impact of tribes and other agencies choosing alternatives such as ankle monitors rather than traditional incarceration. Daniels summarized the facility's recent capital improvements and staffing overview and described a recent inmate incident that was handled internally.
Commissioners approved routine financial items for the sheriff's department in the meeting's fiscal consent items, including purchase orders and payroll. County leaders did not schedule any additional policy action specific to detention funding at the meeting; commissioners and the jail administrator discussed the long‑running budget constraints counties face in covering county-resident inmates.
Daniels' report also included a snapshot of monthly detention finance figures prepared for the board that showed total facility-generated revenue and expenses for recent months. Commissioners asked questions about inmate counts, revenue sources and housing contracts; no new countywide user-rate or tax policy was proposed at the meeting.
The board voted on several other budget and contract items during the session and adjourned after taking the routine votes listed in the minutes.
