St. Landry Parish President Jessie Bellard has filed suit against St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz in an ongoing dispute over housing costs for parish prisoners.
The suit alleges that Guidroz is "enriching" his office at the expense of parish government, by misusing state laws related to inmate expenses. He's doing that by housing prisoners for the state Department of Corrections - DOC - which pays a higher rate than the parish does for housing of inmates, the suit claims.
"In short, Sheriff Guidroz is transferring parish inmates to jails in other parishes, at great expense to SLPG and without valid justification, so that Sheriff Guidroz can keep additional DOC inmates in the parish jail, and profit from the per dieum paid by DOC to the sheriff for each inmate," the suit alleges.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the sheriff said he's reviewed the lawsuit and "strongly disputes" the allegations. It says he "looks forward to receiving the financial documents" he's been requesting for the past four months so he can calculate the costs of jail expenses under state law.
The sheriff adds that he has 55 corrections officers working at the jail which costs him $2.8 million annually; he says he'll be hiring another eight for the new dorm he's building, bringing the projected cost for next year to $3.2 million.
"The St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office will not make any further comment on pending litigation matters," the statement reads.
At issue is how pays how much for prisoners who are being held in the St. Landry Parish jail.
The lawsuit alleges that the parish struggles to keep its budget balanced while Guidroz has "a surplus of over $10,000,000 and growing" due in part the situation the lawsuit wants stopped.
Under state law, the parish government is required to cover the costs of parish inmates - like food and medical - and the fixed costs of the jail, like utilities, maintenance and insurance. That costs parish government $17.50 per inmate per day.
But when a parish jail houses a state inmate for DOC, they get $26.39 per day, the suit says. For each DOC inmate, the sheriff pays the parish $3.50 per day - because the parish isn't responsible for those inmate costs, the suit states.
If a parish inmate is being housed in another parish's jail, parish government has to pay that sheriff $26.39 per day, the suit states. The day the suit was filed, there were 55 St. Landry Parish inmates housed in other jails.
That same day, the lawsuit claims, 59 of the 294 inmates at the jail were DOC inmates.
The lawsuit asks a judge to order Guidroz to transfer all DOC prisoners in his jail to state facilities, and bring back as many parish prisoners has he can to the parish jail. The suit also asks the judge to order Guidroz to "provide legally valid reasons" for any DOC prisoner kept at his jail, and for any parish inmate transferred to another.
This has been an issue for some time now.
Earlier this week, we reported that about a new trustee dorm that will help with overcrowding. Guidroz told us it would house just under 70 inmates, and will be located across the street from the jail. At that time, Guidroz explained that the parish jail’s maximum capacity is 244 inmates, but the facility currently holds about 270 inmates—well beyond its capacity.
In October, we reported that Bellard and Guidroz were in conflict over the funding of prisoners, and Bellard at that time asked the council to approve his filing a lawsuit in the matter. He said he felt it was a "friendly" lawsuit because he wanted a judge to decide who should be paying for what.
