Taking over the Jail?
Well isn't that something. Yesterday I predicted that the discussion around the Sheriff taking over the jail will only heat up after the news Monday regarding the contraband investigation.
Well... that didn't take long. The Sheriff said during the BOCC meeting that he would be willing to run the numbers to show what the cost difference would be between CoreCivic running the jail and the CCSO taking it over. The BOCC seemed open to seeing the numbers.
Why wouldn't they? All of them claim to be frugal and wanting to maximize tax dollars. Why not let the Sheriff run the numbers and bring them back? We are not paying for a consultant, so near zero cost to taxpayers. Let's see what he comes back with.
And to be honest, CoreCivic does not meet their staff level requirements and they have had some issues over the years with safety and other things. I have heard they are not offering programs in the facility they are supposed to.. or at least in a limited capacity. I doubt any of the commissioners LOVE CoreCivic.
A couple things first.
1) Cancelling this contract now will trigger a payback of some amount to CoreCivic for the construction of the current facility. Back in the 2005 contract renewal, CoreCivic agreed to build the facility in exchange for a 10 year contract renewal. The county would pay it back over time (roughly $2 per day per inmate) over a 20 year period following the completion of the facility.
Here is the press release from CoreCivic back then.
The facility was finished in March 2007. That puts the payoff at March 2027... almost exactly a year from now.
Interesting timing huh?
If the contract were cancelled today, based on my calculations, the county would owe around $1 million to CoreCivic. Could be more, could be less... but it is a decent amount of money. If we cancel in 11 months, we owe almost nothing.
This is assuming no changes to that payoff schedule. I have not seen any, but does not mean I didn't miss it. I have not seen this addressed in other contract extensions, notably the 2020 RFP.
Based on the contract, the county can cancel CoreCivic's contract simply with a 180 day notice. If they want to cancel faster, they can trigger the termination clause which requires them to show cause for the termination and they can do that with 30 days notice.
I do not expect that to happen. If this goes down, it will be the 180 day option, which gives time for the county to get its stuff in order for the transition.
I would not expect that to happen until after the March 2027 date, which means the county does not need to pay CoreCivic for the building from my understanding.
#2) What will this look like?
Full disclosure, for what it is worth, my dad used to work for a corporation that privatized prisons. While I am no expert in that, I do have some insight into it.
In short, it is almost ALWAYS cheaper to hire a company to do this instead of the government. That is not always the case. Hernando County apparently saved $1 million the first year after taking back their jail from CoreCivic several years ago, but costs has recently skyrocketed. The county went from $9m in 2009 to over $23m in 2026. So will be interesting to see actual "cost" savings.. Maybe that is the Citrus County route. Maybe it isn't. The Sheriff indicated to the BOCC it will be expensive.
But why is this generally the case? Well for one, the private corporation is responsible for salaries and all of that. If the county takes this over, they will pay each person a salary PLUS other benefits like insurance, FRS retirement, etc. Those expenses drive the cost up significantly, aside from the salaries.
CoreCivic also does some of the maintenance on the facility, that would then become the responsibility of the county. Keep in mind, this facility is now 20 years old. I assume like most other buildings, maintenance costs rise faster as the older buildings continue to age.
As for staffing. The CoreCivic contract requires them to have 58 positions, 45 of which are full time staff, which would get benefits in Citrus County government. The contract requires them "to maintain a competitive salary schedule for all Personnel for retention purposes."
One would assume then that the county would pay a competitive wage as well, especially since the Sheriff just outlined reasons why he needs close to $4m from the BOCC for salary increases.
We pay approximately $20 million a year to CoreCivic to run the jail facilities. This comes to roughly $1,675,829 per month (based on the February invoice) which includes the deductions for staffing levels. This also includes the payment the CoreCivic pays the county for housing Virgin Island inmates ($6 per inmate per day) at the facility. We lose that revenue source if we cancel CoreCivic as it is their contract with the USVI.
What does this mean for Citrus County? We do not know yet. I would be SHOCKED if the Sheriff could do it cheaper. The question then becomes what do the costs look like? A few hundred thousand more? $1 million? More? It is going to be interesting to see what the Sheriff's number projections look like.
By all means, it is good to look at these numbers. It has been a long time since the county considered privatizing (2017), but bailed on the idea due to the cost to payoff the building ($12m at the time).
I have no doubt the Sheriff can run it and likely run it better than CoreCivic has been. But it is likely going to come down to costs. With citizens weary of BOCC spending and demands for fixing roads, it is going to be a tough sell if it is more expensive. We will see.
One interesting note... back in 2017, CoreCivic offered to build a new animal shelter next to the jail for the County and would utilize the same payback method they used for the jail facility. The County turned it down. Just an interesting little detail I came across.
Have a great day.