Empty La Salle County jail cells to be used by Kane County for $65 an inmate

The SAFE-T Act has freed up cells in La Salle County Jail, enabling the county to offer overflow space to counties with crowded jails. La Salle County has a new customer: Kane County Jail.

“We have the space, we have the personnel.”

—  Adam Diss, La Salle County sheriff

Thursday, the La Salle County Board approved an intergovernmental agreement with Kane County. The deal enables Kane to alleviate its jail census by sending inmates to Ottawa for a charge of $65 per inmate per day. Thursday, the jail admitted 19 inmates from Kane County. There will be a total of 100 for six months.

“We have the space, we have the personnel,” Sheriff Adam Diss said. And 100 inmates for six months will yield nearly $1.2 million. “It’s a good opportunity.”

La Salle County already has a deal with Cook County and, to hear Superintendent Jason Edgcomb tell it, the agreements has worked well for La Salle County.

Besides turning empty cells into revenue, Edgcomb said, the visiting inmates typically are glad to be out of the big-city jails and behave well in La Salle County.

Edgcomb said anyone concerned that Kane County inmates will, after release, lurk about locally can rest easy. The intergovernmental agreement requires Kane County to provide return transportation when one of their inmates is discharged.