Scott County jails to house immigration inmates beginning in September

Starting in September, the Scott County Jail will begin to house federal immigration inmates, Sheriff Rick Walter said at a Thursday meeting of the county commission.

The new housing will begin Sept. 30, Walter said.

The jail has 120 beds but is nearly at maximum capacity, and Walter said plans are being secured to handle any overflow.

Chaffee Municipal Jail and Scott City Municipal Jail could both house state inmates for Scott County if need be, at rates of $25 per day, but $22 of that would be covered by the state, Walter said.

The federal inmates would stay at a fairly high rate of turnover because the court proceedings move at a fairly good clip.

"They won't be there very long," Walter said.

Even though other jails could accommodate overflow, Walter said temporary housing can be purchased if necessary.

Also discussed at the meeting was a notice sent by Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force director Kevin Glaser to Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger, that the use of a vehicle for undercover purposes was being discontinued.

Glaser wrote that he had hoped providing a vehicle to the sheriff's department would "bolster a working relationship and a cooperative effort towards a common goal of effective narcotics enforcement."

The cooperative effort had not materialized, Glaser said.

In 13 years, the drug task force has intitiated 845 drug investigations in Scott County alone, the letter said.

Glaser cited budget constraints as the reason for pulling the vehicle, saying it would be brought back into the unit and used by either the task force or any of the the other law enforcement agencies that participate in narcotics investigations with the task force.

"As I am sure you are aware, the purchase, operation and upkeep of vehicles is a costly item in any department's budget," Glaser wrote.

Walter said he felt a little guilty about having the vehicle for so long, especially since other jurisdictions didn't have an undercover vehicle to use with narcotics investigations.

"It's not going to put us in a bind," Walter said.

The vehicle's usefulness as an undercover car had run its course, since it was beginning to be widely recognized in the area as such, he said.

"We're looking to save our dollars any way we can, fuel costs are just killing us," Burger said.

While the car was used by the sheriff's department, Scott County paid for the gas, insurance and minor repairs on the vehicle, Walter said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

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