THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 8, 1994 TAG: 9410080250
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WILMINGTON LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
New Hanover County's sheriff has started to see housing prisoners as a moneymaking proposition, one that could earn the county enough to ease a jail crowding problem.
The county wants to turn to the federal government, not for grants but for more federal prisoners and the per-diem fees they represent.
Sheriff Joe McQueen said he mailed a letter this week letting the U.S. Marshal Service know his department is interested in housing more federal inmates. The department is now under contract to keep 25 of its 209 beds for federal inmates.
At last count, 289 inmates were being housed at the jail and another 50 charged with non-violent crimes at the jail annex.
Another 75 federal inmates at $40 a day might help finance the jail expansion without asking voters to approve the sale of construction bonds, he said.
``We're considering a large expansion that doesn't cost much and without a referendum,'' McQueen said.
The jail has not been under its maximum capacity since last winter, said Capt. Steve Smith, the chief jailer.
As a result of the crowding, 16-man cells are often shared by as many as 25 men. Some sleep on floor mats.
McQueen, County Manager Allen O'Neal and Maj. Robert E. Spell, supervisor of the jail, met about a week ago to discuss the need for more jail space and how a restructuring of federal court offices in eastern North Carolina might help finance the project.
The shuffle likely will assign two U.S. District Court judges to Wilmington in the next four years, said David Daniel, clerk of U.S. District Court in eastern North Carolina.
The federal court system in the eastern part of the state is being reduced to divisions in Raleigh, Elizabeth City, Greenville and Wilmington. The Fayetteville division closed Oct. 1, and the New Bern division is in the process of closing, Daniel said.
``We see a lot of growth in Wilmington,'' Daniel said. ``We're structuring for that.'' by CNB