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Court staff propose small reclassifications to clear journal‑entry backlog and reduce jail stays
Summary
Court staff and the sheriff said 155 journal entries remain uncompleted, leaving roughly 123 inmates who should be in prison still in county custody; a proposal to reclassify three employees would cost about $9,000 annually and help stabilize processing.
Mark (court staff) and the sheriff told commissioners they identified a backlog of about 155 journal entries that has left around 123 sentenced inmates in county custody awaiting transfer to state custody. Mark said the records team has three full‑time employees who do journal entries and that turnover left the records section as an unreliable backup. "We have 3 people who do full time journal entries... we're gonna send sentence a lot of folks..." Mark said, outlining the workflow.
To reduce the backlog and stabilize staffing, court staff proposed reclassifying three positions at a modest annual cost (Mark said the estimate shown would have an annual county cost of about $9,000). The sheriff and Mark also described short‑term relief from trained volunteers and DA office staff and said they will continue coordinated weekly or monthly reviews to track progress. Mark emphasized that addressing the journal‑entry queue is a near‑term operational fix that can reduce costly out‑of‑county housing by enabling timely transfers to KDOC.
Commissioners expressed support and asked for follow‑up on timelines, exact cost calculations and whether additional long‑term hires or process changes will be necessary if jail population trends continue to rise.
