Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
DAVENPORT—Feeding inmates at Lincoln County Jail has cost the county more than double what it previously did following prison lockdowns in Airway Heights and a change of meal suppliers.
A regular dinner meal, which previously cost $1.85 per serving, is up to $4 per serving, according to county E-911 coordinator Jo Gilchrist.
“We were spending between $560 and $585 a week prior,” Gilchrist said. “That’s now over $1,000.”
Correctional Industries business development manager John Kirk pointed to a COVID-19 outbreak at Airway Heights Corrections Center that closed the food factory there for four weeks from late January to late February.
Lincoln County was getting its meals from its neighbors 30 minutes to the east, but the COVID lockdown forced state prisons to use frozen meals and deplete stock levels, Kirk said in an email.
“We were able to reopen the food factory toward the end of February, but we were very limited in offender and regular staff,” Kirk said. “We have been hampered by…(a) lack of incarcerated workers, supply chain issues, etc. which have slowed our production.”
In the meantime, meals have been coming from Silver Foods from Southern California. Instead of receiving food from two cities away, Lincoln County is receiving meals from two states away.
“The price we are charging is their cost to us, plus a small amount to cover our w-house and handling costs,” Kirk said.
The meal price hike comes out of the county’s jail budget, which commissioner Rob Coffman said forces the commissioners to adjust the numbers from the previously allotted budget.
“That type of thing will come from current expense dollars,” Coffman said. “But a budget is never the same at the end of the year as it was at the beginning.”
The provider switch is expected to be temporary. Gilchrist said the county hopes to return to Airway Heights service by mid-May, while Kirk said the switch “should occur” until around the end of April.
“Then the jail will again receive our C I produced meals,” Kirk said.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
Reader Comments(0)