General Shelby stated "the building is one of the nicest facilities in the region". That jail served the Citizens of Bates County until around 1950 when the new jail was built next door. ( Which is now the Bates County Emergency Management Office).
In 2002 the citizens of Bates County passed a 1/2 cent sales tax to construct a new sheriff's office and jail. By state statute the sheriff is obligated to keep and house all inmates of the county and therefore the jail is a division of the sheriff's office. The sheriff's office moved into the new building in 2003 and once again began holding federal inmates and has continued to hold federal, state and other agencies inmate. That tax expired 2017 and the building was paid for at the end of that tax.
In 1987, the citizens of Bates County passed a 1/2 cent sales tax for county law enforcement. The tax funds multiple offices including the Prosecutors Office, Juvenile Office, Coroner's Office, Courthouse Security, Victims Advocate and Sheriff's Office.
In 2018, along with the use tax, they generated approximately $887,000 for the Law Enforcement Sales Tax Fund. In 2018 the Prosecutors Office spent approximately $275,000 the Juvenile Office spent approximately $75,000 and the Coroner's Office spent approximately $46,000. Health Insurances, benefits, medicare, social security and workers compensation for all the employees funded from the law enforcement sales tax cost which is approximately $470,000. Those funds spent $66,000 of the $887,000 tax which left $21,000 to fund the sheriff's budget.
In 2018, the Sheriff's Office generated approximately $2,665,400 through contracts with other agencies to house inmates. In 2018, the sheriff's office was $1,242,600 and the sheriff's jail was $1,782,254 with a total of $3,024,854. The sheriff's office came under budget by $530,867 at a total of $2,393,887. The sheriff's office has tasked its employees to run as efficient as possible to remain under budget consistently for the last 11 years straight saving the county millions of dollars.
In 2017, the citizens of Bates County, elected to continue the 1/2 cent sales tax that originally constructed the county jail, as a fund to improve and maintain county owned property. That fund allowed for funds to expand the jail to create more housing for county inmates along with housing additional bed space that can be utilized to continue to generate revenue for Bates County. The new construction created approximately 79 new inmates beds bringing the total number of beds to 195. The projected cost was originally $3,779,300 and is expected to be completed at a cost of $3,924,137. Collaboration between the county commission and the sheriff the project was completed with less than a 3.6% average. That is excellent considering that during the project time span we saw a large increase in steel tariffs.
Jail Statistics:
In 2018 the jail booked in 1256 persons and released 1254 persons. The average daily population of the Bates County Jail is 134 inmates.
The Department of Justice estimates on a national level 68% of inmates are re-arrested within 3 years of being released. Bates County has a recidivism rate of 49.72% for felony arrests and 43% on misdemeanors.
Missouri RSMO 221.070 requires inmates to be responsible for housing cost. In early 2018, a court ruling took the collection of the jail housing debt collection from the court clerk and placed the responsibly onto the sheriff to collect on the behave of the citizens of Bates County. We are now in the process of establishing a payment plan with past citizens who owe the county for their time in jail. To date there is 1,800,000 in jail housing debt owed to county by previous inmates. The state of Missouri owes Bates County approximately $300,000 for the board bills for state inmates that were sentenced to the Department of Corrections.
The food service division served approximately 146,730 meals at a cost of $1.22 each. The kitchen staff is required to serve a balance diet with 2800 daily calories which exceeds the daily recommendation of 2200 calories a day. We employ 4 full time food service workers.
We have a medical contract that provides a nurse in the building for 30 hours a week and a doctor 1 day a week. Just like you and I, Inmates are required to pay a co-pay for the first initial visit to see the doctor or nurse.
Inmates have the option to attend church twice a week. Inmates have access to a phone, email, video visitation and art programs.
The Sheriff's Office currently employs 60 staff member and currently has 6 open positions for qualified applicants.
Final Thoughts:
Without income from the jail the Sheriff's Office would not be able to provide the basic law enforcement services to our citizens. In 2018 the Sheriff's Office generated $175,000 more than it spent on operations. The Office employs 14 road deputies and has 2 detectives. Other duties that serve are teaching D.A.R.E. in all the schools but two. K-9 Units to combat drugs, members of the CNET Drug Taskforce. Sheriff's Emergency Response Team and Southwest Missouri Major Case Squad.
The Success of the Bates County Sheriff's Office is a total team effort.
Any additional comments or questions can be answered by calling the Bates County Sheriff's Office at 660-679-3232.
Courtesy of Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson
