Food service change at jail is saving money

The Cloud County Law Enforcement Center has changed the way it serves meals to its inmates. The change is saving a substantial amount of money despite an overall increase in the number of inmates incarcerated at the jail.

"We were paying an out-of-state company to provide meals here, and I just wasn't happy with the quality of service we were getting," said Jail Administrator Amber Lindberg. "We wanted to keep our dollars local. Now we prepare all our meals in-house."
The Jail currently houses 100 inmates, compared to a little over 80 in February of 2018. In total, the jail served 2,076 more meals in February of 2019 compared to year ago, and still saved over $6,000 in costs.
"We did not create a new hire position," said Lt. Nick Clanin. "We use our available staff slots, and our trustees also help with a lot of the food preparation."
A jail trustee is typically an inmate incarcerated for a non-serious crime, and who has earned the trust of the correction system through his-or-her good behavior. Trustees are often allowed to perform minor tasks in the facility.
"Our food comes almost exclusively from Duis Meats and F & A and Walmart," Lindberg added. "Garret Farha and Ryan at Duis have been so helpful to us getting this started and making it work."
"The quality of food here has gotten a lot better," said inmate Clarence Geisler. "The meals are more filling. We get really good food now. We get real hamburger instead of soy meat."
A typical breakfast at the Jail is two biscuits with sausage gravy, two eggs, oatmeal, and a breakfast cake with milk. Lunch can be eight barbecue meatballs over rice, with two slices of bread and butter, a vegetable, and a brownie and two cookies for dessert. The supper menus include chicken alfredo, lasagna, and tacos.
The overall cost of serving these meals to the inmates is nearly $100,000 a year less than it was with the out-of-state company the Jail was under contract with.
The uptick in food service is just one of the reasons why the Cloud County Law Enforcement Center is operating at full capacity, and generating a substantial revenue stream to pay off its construction debt.
"With all the certified programs and services we offer here, including the availability of a full-time Registered Nurse, we are able to charge more per inmate than we were a year ago," Lindberg said.
The Jail now has housing contracts for inmates from three counties and the Department of Corrections. "In January we billed out a total of $84,960 for housing inmates," Lindberg said.
At that pace, if the capacity remains full, the Jail could earn over $1 million in revenue for 2019.
"It is always my priority to ensure and maintain the safety and security of the community, staff members, and inmates," Cloud County Sheriff Brian Marks said. "While doing so, I will continually look at opportunities to save the county money and implement those opportunities when appropriate. Additionally, I always welcome anyone that has questions to come out and visit with us at the facility."