Ohio County Worries that Losing Federal Inmates Will Cause Economic Hardship

Governments are not always like corporations in the things they buy, despite some peoples best efforts to treat them that way. Mahoning County in Ohio operates a jail. It takes in local and federal prisoners and are paid by the prisoner per day. Now there is concern that the federal government will move its prisoners to another, private jail and the county will lose revenue. The Vindy.com reports that the county is working with the federal government on this issue. To make things more interesting the jail is being run in consent with federal judges due to a lawsuit about conditions won a few years ago by inmates. Part of that settlement requires a certain number of “revenue producing prisoners” and if the feds cut back it might cost the county money due to the settlement being broken. This issue illustrates a problem with budgeting that is not just a part of government fiscal planning. This county has a windfall in a way due to the fact that it has a large number of prisoners. They plan for that revenue. If the number of prisoners falls, which in itself you would think is not a bad thing, the county loses money it had planned to spend. Now it has to either cut back on spending or raise revenue from another source.