$8.25: Too much for an inmate’s meal?

• Lake County jail

Then-Lake County Sheriff Steve Peterson poses in the Lake County jail in 2003. At the time, Lake County was the first in Northeastern Minnesota to require prisoners to pay a fee for each day spent behind bars. Now, the cost of feeding county jail inmates has risen. (2003 file / News Tribune)

Talk about it

The Lake County sheriff calls it a “bombshell.” The chairman of the Board of Commissioners said it was expected.

Whatever the reaction, the hard number is this: Meals at the Lake County Jail will cost taxpayers $40,000 more next year — a jump of more than 60 percent.

Sheriff Carey Johnson said the two meals inmates get each day now cost $16.50, compared to $10 in the past. It means the average price for a single meal jumped from $5 to $8.25.

The jail, which lately has averaged about 15 inmates, can hold 25.

The 2010 budget line shows the county paid $60,000 to Sunrise Nursing Home to prepare two meals a day to inmates at the jail. Now that cost will be $100,000.

Sunrise administrator Sue Johnson said the nursing home, which is owned by the county, boosted the fee from $5 to $8.25 on Sept. 1. She said the increase was needed to pay for labor costs in preparing meals. The nursing home has gone to a buffet-style steam table for serving residents, meaning inmate meals have to be made separately, she said. She had to add staff and thus increase the meal price, she said.

Though Sunrise is owned by the county, it operates without taxpayer money.

Asked if she thought she might face some competition from someone who could offer meals for less, she said: “Go for it. I don’t mean to sound flip, but this is what it costs us to provide meals.”

Johnson said the new prices are high, and he is looking at alternatives. A look at meal costs across the country show many states average under $3 per meal as governments scrutinize meal costs under budget constraints. The lower-priced meals often are attributed to proximity to large food-service providers or in-jail operations.

Board Chairman Paul Bergman said the county has known for months that Sunrise couldn’t keep offering the meals at the $5 price and needed to raise it to $8.25.

“It still seems like a lot,” Johnson said. “But they say that’s what they need.”

Alternatives include making meals at a small kitchen at the jail or having a restaurant provide them. Bergman said the advantage of going with Sunrise is the guarantee of meals 24 hours a day.

The jail has used restaurants in the past. Johnson said Hardee’s once provided meals as well as Judy’s Cafe. There is no contract with Sunrise, so the jail could switch providers at any time. But the food has to pass muster with dietary requirements monitored by county nutritionists, Johnson and Bergman said.

Inmates have a cold cereal provided at the jail for breakfast. A hot lunch and cold dinner (some are reheated) are provided by Sunrise. Jail employees pick up the meals.

Tags: two harbors, news, food