Boarding ICE prisoners brings in more money to Scott County than expected

BENTON, Mo. -- While things have cooled off a bit, boarding ICE prisoners has turned out to bring in more money that expected.

Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter and county commissioners discussed revenue received from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the regular county commission meeting Tuesday.

ICE began boarding its detainees in the Scott County Jail in December.

"I am pleased to see the ICE prisoner incarceration in our jail finally come to be," said Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger. "We estimated our revenues from that, and it looks like our estimation was low."

Based on what ICE was paying to board their prisoners during that initial month, "we anticipated revenue for a full year would be roughly $120,000," Walter said.

Walter said his department is reimbursed for mileage when transporting ICE detainees and that that the reimbursement exceeds actual fuel costs.

The county also comes out ahead when guarding ICE detainees during medical treatments and hospital stays, Walter said, as the reimbursement from ICE exceeds the department's regular personnel costs.

Walter said the county is bringing in additional revenue from commissary purchases by ICE detainees as most of them have the money to make purchases.

Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn said the county has been fortunate in that it hasn't had to house county prisoners in other facilities to make room for ICE detainees as expected.