The entrance to the Northern Regional Correctional Facility and Jail is seen in Moundsville. (File Photo)

WHEELING — The cost of incarcerating those arrested in Ohio County through the West Virginia Department of Corrections was just under $1 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year, and is on track to be nearly double that for 2025-26, according to Ohio County Administrator Randy Russell.

There was a jump in the per diem cost per day to incarcerate an inmate, and the number of arrests and incarceration days has increased so far this fiscal year, he explained.

“We anticipated an increase based on the increase in the per diem, which was about 17%,” Russell said. “But because of the increased number of incarcerations, this increase is going to be a big number,”

Last year’s jail bill was just under $1 million at about $935,000, he noted.

“If it continues at the rate we are seeing, we are going to see a $1.7 million jail bill, which is a significant increase,” he added.

Money to pay increased jail costs this year so far will be covered under the county’s contingency fund, Russell said. As such, the county is not looking to make cuts right now.

“But if it continues, we’ll just have to see,” he said.

Russell broke down the two reasons for the jump in jail costs. First, was the per diem rate.

“In 2025, the standard per diem rate was $57.46 per inmate per day. If you kept your numbers down, they gave you a discounted rate of $45.97,” he said.

Ohio County racked up 17,649 inmate days during the last fiscal year, according to Russell, but the county exceeded the numbers for the WVDOC discount and paid the full $57.46 for the last 2,156 inmate days.

“Then for this fiscal year, they increased their standard per diem from $57.46 to $67.28, which was a significant increase,” Russell said.

Ohio County’s monthly jail bill for the 2024-2025 fiscal year typically exceeded $72,000 per month. This year, it is running above $120,000 per month, he continued.

“The other component is we are seeing an uptick in the number of inmate days,” Russell said. “There have been more arrests and more people incarcerated. And the incarceration days have increased as well.”

A lot of this is because of slow movement within the court system and inmates being in jail longer under the county’s expense.

Once an inmate is found guilty in state courts, the state then takes over the responsibility for their incarceration costs, Russell said.

Ohio County also pays much of the cost for those incarcerated after being arrested by the Wheeling Police Department. When an arrest is made by Wheeling officers, the city is responsible for paying for the first five days of incarceration of the offender.

“Typically, [police] arrest people under state code, but the city has ordinances that mirror state code,” Russell continued. “If the city could have incarcerated someone for a city offense, but instead incarcerated them under a state offense, then the city is responsible for the first five days.

“If someone is arrested and they stay in jail for 15 days, the city pays for the first five days and the county picks up the next 10.”

The city of Wheeling gets its own separate jail bill for any incarcerations made under a city offense, according to Russell.

“Ultimately, the county is responsible for jailable offenses under state code,” he explained. “There has been a lot of discussions about that, because unfortunately once folks are arrested, the county doesn’t have a lot of means to get them back out.

“The bad guys that need to be in jail should stay in jail. A lot of it is [because] the court systems are backlogged, so we don’t have the capacity to push them out of jail.”

He acknowledged Ohio County officials had not expected jail costs to jump as much as they had during the current fiscal year.

“Next year, there is also an increase in the per diem rate, and I know the county prosecutor (Shawn Turak) is watching the incarcerations very closely,” Russell said. “Again, we applaud law enforcement for doing their jobs and arresting people who allegedly committed crimes. We just have to get them through the system a little quicker.”