The city of Springfield entered into a financial agreement with Vernon County allowing local municipal prisoners to be transferred to Nevada.
Vernon County Sheriff Jason Mosher approached Springfield Police Department Chief Paul Williams to form the partnership. It was approved unanimously last night by Springfield City Council, following approval Nov. 29 by the Vernon County Commission, according to a news release.
Effective Jan. 2, Vernon County will provide transportation and space for Springfield prisoners at its 108-bed jail located 96 miles away in the Missouri city of Nevada. The rate will be $45 a day per inmate, and Vernon County officers will transport up to 10 prisoners to and from Springfield once a day Monday through Friday.
The deal with Vernon County is the latest stopgap for Springfield’s municipal prisoner problem, as the city and Greene County have failed to come to an agreement.
In June, the city rejected the Greene County Commission’s proposal for a temporary jail to be erected on the lot east of the Greene County Jail and north of the commission’s office at 933 N. Robberson Ave. The commission wanted $1 million a year from the city over a three-year period to pay for the temporary facility.
The city’s rejection of the proposal came a month after council approved a contract with Southern Missouri Judicial Services LLC to transport inmates to the Taney County Jail and monitor those in custody at three holding cells at the city’s Battlefield Road police station. The city also has an arrangement with Miller County. Those one-year agreements have since been ended prematurely.
Last year, Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott sent a letter to Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams saying the jail at 1000 Boonville Ave. would no longer accept municipal prisoners due to overcrowding. The issue spawned litigation filed by the city against the county over violations of a jail housing agreement, according to
Springfield Business Journal archives.
Between April 3, 2015, and Nov. 21, 6,983 people were arrested on 10,533 municipal warrants and released on their own recognizance by a judge’s order rather than being booked in jail, according to the release.
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