Last week, Big Horn Mountain Radio reported on how low inmate numbers were adversely affecting the Johnson County budget.
Sheriff Steve Kozisek had told the Commissioners that the average daily population for 2016 was roughly half what it had been 4 years ago.
The Sheriff provided some background on why the inmate count is down at the Johnson County Detention Center…

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Aside from the Sheriff’s Department being tougher on substance abuse issues, he suggested that the state of Wyoming is opting for probation over incarceration more often in recent years…

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The Sheriff dismissed any concerns that the current justice center was simply too large a structure for the county’s needs.
According to Kozisek, the current structure was in the planning stages more than 20 years ago under then Sheriff Kirkpatrick…

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What resulted from that preliminary planning was the 54-bed facility in operation now and he still believes the Commissioners’ decision at the time was a good one…

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With the Wyoming Department of Corrections still planning the necessary repairs to the state penitentiary later this year, there is the likelihood of higher revenues for county operations in the months to come.

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