§15A-3-16. Funds for operations of jails under the jurisdiction of the commissioner.

(a) Any special revenue funds previously administered by the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority or its executive director are continued and shall be administered by the commissioner.

(b) Funds that have been transferred by §15A-3-16(a) of this code shall be limited in use to operations of jail functions, and for payment to the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority Board, for payment of indebtedness. In no case shall a fund be utilized to offset or pay operations of non-jail parts of the facility: Provided, That funds may be utilized on a pro rata basis for shared staff and for operational expenses of facilities being used as both prisons and jails.

(c) Whenever the commissioner determines that the balance in these funds is more than the immediate requirements of this article, he or she may request that the excess be invested until needed. Any excess funds so requested shall be invested in a manner consistent with the investment of temporary state funds. Interest earned on any moneys invested pursuant to this section shall be credited to these funds.

(d) These funds consist of the following:

(1) Moneys collected and deposited in the State Treasury which are specifically designated by Acts of the Legislature for inclusion in these funds;

(2) Contributions, grants, and gifts from any source, both public and private, specifically directed to the operations of jails under the control of the commissioner;

(3) All sums paid pursuant to §15A-3-16(g) of this code; and

(4) All interest earned on investments made by the state from moneys deposited in these funds.

(e) The amounts deposited in these funds shall be accounted for and expended in the following manner:

(1) Amounts deposited shall be pledged first to the debt service on any bonded indebtedness;

(2) After any requirements of debt service have been satisfied, the commissioner shall requisition from these funds the amounts that are necessary to provide for payment of the administrative expenses of this article, as limited by this section;

(3) The commissioner shall requisition from these funds, after any requirements of debt service have been satisfied, the amounts that are necessary for the maintenance and operation of jails under his or her control. These funds shall make an accounting of all amounts received from each county by virtue of any filing fees, court costs, or fines required by law to be deposited in these funds and amounts from the jail improvement funds of the various counties;

(4) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, sums paid into these funds by each county pursuant to §15A-3-16(g) of this code for each inmate shall be placed in a separate account and shall be requisitioned from these funds to pay for costs incurred; and

(5) Any amounts deposited in these funds from other sources permitted by this article shall be expended based on particular needs to be determined by the commissioner.

(f)(1) After a jail facility becomes available pursuant to this article for the incarceration of inmates, each county within the region shall incarcerate all persons whom the county would have incarcerated in any jail prior to the availability of the jail facility in the jail facility, except those whose incarceration in a local jail facility used as a local holding facility is specified as appropriate under the previously promulgated, and hereby transferred standards and procedures developed by the Jail Facilities Standards Commission, and whom the sheriff or the circuit court elects to incarcerate therein.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of §15A-3-16(f)(1) of this code, circuit and magistrate courts are authorized to:

(A) Detain persons who have been arrested or charged with a crime in a county or municipal jail for a period not to exceed 96 hours; or

(B) Commit persons convicted of a crime in a county or municipal jail for a period not to exceed 14 days.

(g) When inmates are placed in a jail facility under the jurisdiction of the commissioner pursuant to §15A-3-16(f) of this code, the county, and municipality if the incarceration is a municipal violation, shall pay into this fund a cost per day for each incarcerated inmate, to be determined as set forth in subsection (k) of this section.

(h) The per diem costs for incarcerating inmates may not include the cost of construction, acquisition, or renovation of the regional jail facilities: Provided, That each jail facility or unit operating in this state shall keep a record of the date and time that an inmate is incarcerated, and a county may not be charged for a second day of incarceration for an individual inmate until that inmate has remained incarcerated for more than 24 hours. After that, in cases of continuous incarceration, subsequent per diem charges shall be made upon a county only as subsequent intervals of 24 hours pass from the original time of incarceration.

(i) The county is responsible for costs incurred by the division for housing and maintaining inmates in its facilities who are pretrial inmates and convicted misdemeanants. The costs of housing shall be borne by the division on a felony conviction when an inmate is incarcerated beginning the calendar day following the day of conviction. In no case shall the county be responsible for any costs of housing and maintaining felony convicted inmate populations.

(j) The county is responsible for the costs incurred by the authority for housing and maintaining an inmate who, prior to a felony conviction on which the inmate is incarcerated and is awaiting transportation to a state correctional facility for a 60-day evaluation period as provided in §62-12-7a of this code.

(k) (1) Effective July 1, 2023, the cost per day, per inmate for an incarcerated inmate shall be determined as set forth in this subsection. The base per day, per inmate rate shall be set at $54.48. The State Budget Office shall annually examine the most recent three fiscal years of costs submitted by the commissioner for the cost of operating the jail facilities and units under his or her jurisdiction, and taking an average per day, per inmate cost of maintaining the operations of the jail facilities or units shall adjust the per day, per inmate rate annually. Notice of the adjusted per day, per inmate rate shall be provided to each county commission.

(2) Beginning July 1, 2023, the commissioner shall determine the pro rata share of inmate days per county. This figure shall be calculated by multiplying each county’s population as contained in the 2020 United States Census by .52.

(3) Each county shall pay as its annual per diem jail cost:

(A) Eighty percent of the current per diem rate for the first 80 percent of its pro rata share of total billed inmate days;

(B) One hundred percent of the current per diem rate for its inmate days that are greater than 80 percent and up to 100 percent of its pro rata share of total billed inmate days; and

(C) One hundred twenty percent of the current per diem rate for its inmate days that exceed 100 percent of its pro rata share of total billed inmate days.

(4) Beginning July 1, 2031, and every 10 years thereafter the pro rata share of inmate days per county shall be calculated by dividing the number of inmate days from the previous calendar year by the state’s population according to the most recent United States Census data and then multiplying that number by each county’s population.

(5) The commissioner shall post on the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitations webpage by county:

(i) The pro rata share of inmate days;

(ii) The base number of pro rata days;

(iii) The reduced rate of the per day, per inmate costs;

(iv) The increased per day, per inmate; and

(v) Any other information deemed necessary by the commissioner.   

(l) In cases in which the incarcerated inmate was placed in a jail facility by the municipal police of a Class I or Class II municipal corporation as defined in §8-1-3 of this code, or of a Class III municipal corporation as defined in §8-1-3 of this code but with a population in excess of 4,000 according to the most recent census taken under the authority of the United States, and the incarceration resulted from a charge that could have been brought in municipal court but was brought in a magistrate court of this state, the county commission responsible for paying the cost per day pursuant to this subsection shall be entitled to reimbursement from the municipal corporation of actual expenditures for up to five days of per diem costs borne by the county commission.