Jim Hammond

On paper, it appears that the privately managed Silverdale Detention Center can house more inmates at a lower cost than the Hamilton County Jail.

But county officials said privatization of the jail wouldn’t be a cost saver.

“It’s not an apples-to-apples thing,” said Sheriff Jim Hammond. “It’s apples-to-oranges.”

A report from the county auditor’s office last month showed the county spent about $13.2 million between July 2008 and June 2009 to operate the jail, which houses an average of 555 inmates per day. For the same period, it cost $11.5 million at Silverdale, which housed an average of 831 inmates.

Sheriff Hammond said not all inmates count the same.

“Our facility (the jail) holds the worst of the worst,” he said. “We’ve got the pre-trial detainees, the post-trial detainees, the federal prisoners, the immigration violators, the probation and parole violators, and many of those cannot be housed in a Silverdale setting.”

County Commissioner Larry Henry, chairman of the commission’s Security and Corrections Committee, said the type of inmates leads to higher costs at the jail.

“That’s something we’re probably going to have to have as a government entity,” he said.

During last year’s sheriff election, Sheriff Hammond said he was open to privatizing the county jail.

“I don’t think there are any sacred cows,” he said, though he did note that he wouldn’t be in any rush to put the jail in private hands.

Now, Sheriff Hammond says he doesn’t think the time is right for a private company such as Corrections Corporation of America, which runs Silverdale, to take over the jail.

“I’m not sure it will be in the near future,” he said.

A spokesman for CCA said the company has made no proposals to take over the jail.

Sheriff Hammond said the County Commission would have to authorize a study to see whether it would be cheaper to contract out jail operations. He noted that many Sheriff’s Office employees’ salaries, including part of his own, are factored into the cost of jail operations.

County Mayor Claude Ramsey said county officials have looked “from time to time” at privatizing the jail but haven’t seen how it could work.

“We don’t think the savings would be anywhere near where they appear to be on paper,” he said.

Mr. Ramsey cited higher labor costs and a complex building configuration as factors in the higher costs to operate the jail.