LOCAL

La Salle takes over management of county jail

La Salle official said previously working with the warden helped the transition

Dianne L Stallings
Ruidoso News
  • Cost per prisoner goes up slightly

A five-year contract was signed last week between Lincoln County and La Salle Corrections West to operate the county detention center in Carrizozo.

The Lincoln County Detention Center is in the county seat of Carrizozo.

“We were kind of forced into new contractual arrangement, because of Emerald Corrections’ early departure,” County Attorney Alan Morel said. Emerald abruptly announced that the company would no longer manage the jail three months ago and that the contract would be assigned to another firm. County officials informed Emerald an assignment was not possible without their concurrence. A 90-day contract was signed with La Salle while the company and the county decided whether to move ahead with a longer-term situation.

Tim Kurpiewski, chief financial officer for LaSalle West based in Austin, Texas, told commissioners at their monthly meeting that the company was pleased with the transition and ready to sign.

“At the end of the 90 days, we started to work on a permanent agreement with the county staff,” he said. “We feel confident this is a good fit for us and hope you feel that way too. We definitely would like to move forward on a five-year agreement with the option to extend it two years at a time.

“We hope to be here for the term of the contract. Pretty much all of the employees were retained, the warden and the captain. That made life very easy for us. A lot of people within our company had worked with (Warden Arthur Anderson)within the Texas correctional system.”

The 90-day agreement terms were that the county pay all costs plus a 15 percent management fee, but the new contract reimburses La Salle on a per occupied prisoner bed, Morel said.

The state may take several months to approve the contract, but commissioners voted to make the agreement effective Sept. 1, and to work under its terms. La Salle will be paid $60 per inmate per day, an increase of 2 percent annually.

Commission Chairman Preston Stone thanks La Salle for "softening the hard spot."

County Manager Nita Taylor said she will renegotiate the amount of reimbursement the county receives for prisoners of the Bureau of Indian Affairs that are housed in the jail. When Emerald was operating the jail, the reimbursement had to be raised to cover the county’s expense at about $59 per prisoner per day, but now that amount will fall short of the new $60 per day charge, she said.

Morel said the contract allows renewals up to 13 years, and provides a 90-day cancelation for either side. “That a very short period of time in the jail world,” he said. “(The new contract terms) provide an incentive for everybody to control costs.”

Commission Chairman Preston Stone thanked Kurpieski and La Salle, saying, “You softened the hard spot and we definitely appreciate it.”

Morel said the county also fared well in its separation from Emerald in covering accounts payable and does not appear to have lost any money in the abrupt departure, while paying vendors with claims.

“Congratulations to the attorney and the staff,” Commissioner Tom Stewart said. “We realize that was pretty hard.”