While Sangamon County waits for a state agency to transfer five county jail inmates in need of psychiatric care, Sheriff Jack Campbell would also like to recover the extra money the county has had to spend to house those inmates.
Since January, at least ten inmates have remained at the county jail beyond the 20-day time limit for them to be transferred after being found mentally unfit to stand trial. Federal law sets the cost of housing such inmates at $53.50 a day. Those ten inmates account for a total of 662 days of care beyond the deadline set by law, for a total cost of more than $35,000.
The county could take the state to court to recover that money… and perhaps additional funds from similar cases in past years. State’s Attorney Dan Wright won’t comment on whether he intends to do that, citing pending litigation over the inmate transfers.
