Sheriff, others pitch need for more jail money

The Iberia Parish Council’s jail ad-hoc committee will take a closer look at jail expenses and the current contract between the parish and the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office before deciding on a short-term agreement in the next few weeks, the committee decided Monday night.

The committee heard from Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal, Sheriff’s Office attorney Steve Elledge, jail Warden Frank Ellis and other Sheriff’s Office representatives Monday night as they broke down what expenses they found that the parish should have been paying.

The parish pays $760,000 in its current contract with the Sheriff’s Office for the Iberia Parish Jail, a number Ackal and other representatives say is about $500,000 short of the $1.26 million the parish should be paying for jail operations.

The seven-member committee quizzed Ackal, Ellis and others about the breakdown of jail expenses, though in the end committee members said they will need to look at more than just a one-time payment to solve the ongoing problems at the jail.

“We’ll need to explain to the public that this number’s not going to cure all the problems out there,” Committee Chairman Bernard Broussard said. “This (payment) might solve some of your short-term problems, but I think we need to look at the bigger picture and see that this might cost us a few million over the next few years.”

Ellis said of the 512 prisoners at the jail, 345 are parish prisoners, 145 are state Department of Corrections prisoners, about 30 come from the city of New Iberia and the rest stem from Abbeville and St. Martin and St. Mary parishes.

Of the 345 parish prisoners, 17 are serving what is considered parish time, which is less than a year, while the other 328 are awaiting trial in the 16th Judicial District, Ellis said.

Ellis said the jail is responsible for 550 meals three times a day, and said the equipment repair budget will not decrease because of the condition of many of the appliances.

“Not an item in that kitchen wasn’t there when the jail first opened,” Ellis said.

Ellis assured committee members that any purchases made at the jail are the most cost-efficient he can find, while Ackal told the committee he has no plans to re-establish a work release program for prisoners.

Committee members Maggie Daniels and Naray Hulin said when polled, residents were against any form of new taxes.

Broussard said it may be necessary to reallocate certain tax revenues to the jail.

“When we put people in jail, the taxpayers are punished, not the prisoners,” Ackal said.

Broussard said after the meeting the $498,000 the Sheriff’s Office is requesting is likely to be agreed upon and will likely be broken down into two, $250,000 payments, but added other problems at the jail also will have to be looked at.

“It’s time to address the facts publicly,” Broussard said. “We can help him in the short-term, but we’ll also need to look at the bigger picture that’s never been addressed.”

Broussard and other committee members asked to have an inventory of all items at the jail for its next committee meeting, tentatively scheduled for July 13.

“We have the numbers, but we’ll give them time to look at it,” Ackal said after the meeting. “We’ll open our books and the jail and let them satisfy what they think needs to be done. We have a council that’s willing to work with us.”