Supervisors extend jail services agreement with Warren County

Warren County inmates will still be detained in Jasper County Jail for at least another year. Until the construction of a new sheriff’s office and jail for Warren County is complete, Jasper County will maintain a steady stream of revenue from housing out-of-town inmates at its facility.

On Tuesday, the Jasper County Board of Supervisors renewed and amended its memorandum of understanding between the two sheriff’s offices. In exchange for holding their inmates in custody, Warren County will now have to pay $55 per day, rather than $45 per day.

Ever since the partnership was established in 2018, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office has reported higher revenues for the general fund.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic affecting the number of inmates the jail can hold at one time, Jasper County is still seeing an average of $35,000-$36,000 per month in revenue from holding inmates. Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty expects that revenue to increase once officials start loosening restrictions.

Much of that revenue comes from holding Warren County inmates, Halferty said.

Each budget year Halferty projects what he thinks revenues will be from various sources. Generally, Halferty projects $300,000-$400,000 a year for inmate holding, in hopes that the sheriff’s office will bring in more. Costs for meals and utilities do offset some of those revenues.

Polk County also occasionally transfers inmates to be detained at Jasper County Jail. Once Warren County has finished constructing its new jail, Halferty anticipates the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office could continue holding out-of-town inmates primarily from Polk County, maintaining a supplemental revenue stream.

“Our primary commitment is to Warren County,” Halferty said.

“We want to make sure we always have enough beds, not only for Warren County but for our local agencies here. When Warren County gets their new facility open, at that point we would reach out to Polk County and other larger agencies and offer to hold inmates for them if they need the room. "

Halferty spoke highly of Jasper’s partnership with Warren County.

“We’ve continued to have that relationship and we’ll continue to assist them until they get their new facility open,” Halferty said.

In other action Tuesday, the board of supervisors:

• Appointed sheriff deputies and sheriff reserve deputies to Jasper County. The following officers have been appointed to the sheriff’s office: Mike Gunsaulus, Ian Winfield, Nicholas Aldrich, Dylan Blackford, Joshua Borg, Brandon Bruxvoort, Tracy Cross, Marc Headington, David Hernandez, Kira Lazenby, Duane Rozendaal, Brad Sheeder, Brad Shutts, Corey Van Kooten, Brad Van Zante, MaKennah Walters and Steve Knight. The following have been appointed as reserve deputies: Steve Ashing, Tyler Clement, Victoria Crook, Ryan Eaton, Jacob Halferty, Nathan Lanferman, Joel Schabilion, Dennis Simon, Joel Wilkerson and Kolbe Wilkerson.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com