CHANDLER, Okla. (KFOR) – On Tuesday, Lincoln County voters will vote on a proposition that will improve their property taxes with the intention to pay for a brand new county jail.
If accepted, Sheriff Charlie Dougherty mentioned he wish to purchase a contract with a federal company, promoting beds within the jail to them, to make a revenue.
“I am making an attempt to show this right into a enterprise and let’s attempt to make some cash apart from to only throw cash at it day-after-day,” Sheriff Charlie Dougherty mentioned throughout a townhall assembly again on June thirtieth.
He’s speaking about his imaginative and prescient for the way forward for the Lincoln County Jail.
“The feds are by no means going to construct a jail for themselves, in order that they contract with counties,” Sheriff Dougherty mentioned.
Dougherty is hoping to accumulate a contract with an company, like ICE or the U.S. Marshals, promoting beds to the federal authorities for revenue as soon as the county builds a brand new jail.
He mentioned it may earn the division round $1.2 million a 12 months, which is his present price range for the ability, conserving him from having to ask the county commissioner for these funds.
It’s a transfer different counties, like Grady and Logan, have accomplished lately.
“So we mentioned you recognize let’s construct a much bigger place that we will promote some beds to the federal authorities and make this the enterprise that it’s,” Dougherty mentioned.
On Tuesday, Lincoln County voters will vote on a proposition that will improve their property taxes to pay for the development of a brand new jail.
Dougherty mentioned a brand new facility has been wanted for years as a result of the present constructing is plagued with issues and is overcrowded.
“I believe it is incorrect for individuals to revenue off one other particular person’s mistake,” Kris Steele, Director of Oklahomans for Felony Justice Reform, informed Information 4.
Steele feels these federal contracts, just like the one Sheriff Dougherty is hoping to accumulate, are heartbreaking.
“The truth is Oklahoma has just like the second highest incarceration charge per capita of any state within the nation, and I believe that our mass incarceration charges in Oklahoma are straight associated to those monetary incentives,” mentioned Steele. “When a frontrunner in legislation enforcement finds a solution to become profitable off an individual who commits against the law, it simply breaks my coronary heart as a result of I believe that on the finish of the day, we’re higher than that as Oklahomans.”
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“We all know what now we have been doing endlessly, let’s strive one thing totally different,” Sheriff Dougherty mentioned.
The polls in Lincoln County are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
