Licking County's available jail space makes it an appealing partner to outside jurisdictions with overcrowding issues.

This month, the Licking County commissioners approved a new contract to allow Fairfield County to house some of its prisoners in the Licking County Justice Center at a cost of $60 per inmate per day.

The arrangement is nothing new for the county, or a multitude of counties in Ohio and throughout the country that house inmates from other jurisdictions.

Although revenues from such agreements go into the county's general fund, they often don't provide a significant financial boost. In most cases, the pacts work as cooperative efforts between municipalities that, from time to time, all struggle to keep up with the number of people being held or sentenced to jail in their respective jurisdictions.

"That's pretty common," county commissioner Tim Bubb said. "If our jail is full, we parcel our inmates out to other jails. It's just public entities sharing resources as needed. We don't view it as making money for Licking County, but we're not losing money, either. We're covering each other's overhead."

In some cases, counties have instituted "day-reporting" programs, which require nonviolent offenders to check in with probation officers, be subjected to drug and alcohol testing and undergo treatment while maintaining jobs in lieu of being incarcerated. Proponents say such practices ease jail overcrowding and provide treatment for criminals who don't pose a substantial public safety risk.

Licking County intends to assist overcrowding jurisdictions in housing prisoners who are violent or aren't good candidates for less-intensive rehabilitation.

"The folks we house from other counties, you don't want those guys out running the streets," commissioner Brad Feightner said.

According to Licking County Sheriff Capt. and jail administrator Pat Claprood, the Licking County Justice Center, 155 E. Main St. in Newark, could house up to 329 inmates. He said the county has agreements to house inmates from Fairfield County, as well as from Licking County municipalities, such as Buckeye Lake, Granville, Johnstown, Pataskala, Reynoldsburg and Utica.

Claprood said the last time Licking County housed any outside inmates was in August.

"That $60 fee includes basic room and board," he said. "If they have special medical conditions or prescriptions, they (outside entities) pay above and beyond the fee.

"We can hold 329 inmates. If we've got 60 beds empty, those set (jail operations) costs are still there. You still have to have the same amount of deputies and corrections officers working."

As of Nov. 18, Licking County had collected $29,460 to house out-of-jurisdiction inmates at the Licking County Justice Center, Claprood said. Those revenues have been largely offset, however, because overcrowding in September and October forced the county to spend nearly $20,160 to house its inmates elsewhere.

In 2008, Claprood said, Licking County collected $7,870 to house inmates from other municipalities.

"It's a practice that happens quite often with neighboring counties," Feightner said. "If you've got too many inmates, it's nice to have somewhere to put them."

nellis@thisweeknews.com