Missouri Public Defender System Director Michael Barrett Archives

Missouri corrections officials are scheduled to testify before a legislative committee in Jefferson City in September about county jail reimbursement.

Missouri House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, speaks on the House floor on March 28, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Missouri Public Defender System Director Michael Barrett says the state has budgeted about $43 million this fiscal year to local jails for holding citizens who are awaiting trial.

Missouri Department of Corrections (DOC) budget director Trevor Foley is set to testify before the House Budget Committee on September 10 about the county jail reimbursement program and the issue of electronic monitoring of offenders.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, tells Missourinet he also expects sheriffs and county commissioners to be at the hearing, and possibly prosecutors.

Missouri is the only state in the country that reimburses counties for a portion of the defendant’s entire local jail time, while the person’s case goes through the court system.

House Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections Chairwoman Sara Walsh, R-Ashland, tweeted at Missourinet today that this is an issue that state lawmakers want to continue to explore. Walsh says the Legislature budgeted $1.75 million in the current fiscal year to all Missouri counties with unpaid jail reimbursements.

Walsh says she’s invited county commissioners and sheriffs from her mid-Missouri district to the hearing.