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EXTRA CONTENT: Moses speaks out about why he resigned as Jailer
Posted On 12 Jan 2011
Read Moses’ resignation letter and other documents by clicking here.
There were a lot of things that Les Moses wanted to accomplish as Whitley County Jailer, such as setting up a drug rehabilitation program and a job placement program for inmates.
After only about eight days in office, Moses said he didn’t feel like he could accomplish what he set out to do as jailer, and resigned his position Monday morning.
"I feel like when you tell somebody things you want to do or you are going to do, you need to try your very best to deliver that. If you can’t I think you ought to explain to them why you can’t," Moses said.
"This is the type of thing where I want to be straightforward with people and myself also."
The biggest hurdle for Moses to bring the jail up to a higher standard and implement his plans was money.
"The biggest problem was finding out the debt that the jail is in, and also the county and the fiscal court," Moses said. "It was in worse shape than I expected it to be. With it being in that shape and trying to balance a new budget and the cuts that needed to come, I just didn’t feel like it was fair to the people that voted me in, and to the whole county also.
"I just felt like I wouldn’t be able to meet my obligations to them. I just felt it would be for their best and my best if I just left things the way I found them, and just stepped away."
The jail faces a number of monetary hurdles.
Whitley County’s overall budget is $14,282,928, according to the county’s 2010-2011 budget, and the jail’s $2,828,567 budget accounts for 19.8 percent of the county’s overall budget appropriations.
Out of this sum, the jail only generates $1,520,400 in revenue. The rest comes from the fiscal court and local taxpayers.
The bulk of that budgeted revenue, $880,000 comes from housing state inmates, and $350,000 comes from housing prisoners for other counties.
Because of state budget problems, county jails are housing fewer state inmates than in years past. At one point, the Whitley County Detention Center housed about 120 state inmates, but today it houses about half that many state inmates.
Moses said the number of state inmates housed at the detention center seemed to be climbing back up slowly.
"It brings a lot of revenue into the county," Moses said. "You kind of have to jump through hoops, and just do the best you can with that.
"All the other counties are striving to do the same thing with that. You just can get what you can get."
He said the finances of the whole county revolve around the jail to some extent because it costs a great deal of money to operate.
"I realize that the county depends on the jail to bring a lot of revenue in from state prisoners," Moses said.
"When you come right down to the operation of something like that as far as the finances of it and the stuff you have to have, it is a pretty serious thing."
Running the jail isn’t cheap proposition.
According to the county’s budget, $760,000 is budgeted for salaries for jail personnel with another $405,200 budgeted for things like social security, and workers compensation. This doesn’t include the jailer or chief deputy jailer’s pay. The jail has about 46 employees.
The jail has a $125,000 budget for the medical services, and $46,200 for the jail nurse. $300,000 is budgeted for food.
$489,440 is budgeted for payments on the bonds, which were sold to finance construction of the jail. Out of this sum, $150,000 goes towards the principal and $339,440 towards the interest.
The jail construction bonds won’t be paid off until 2034.
After he took over as jailer, Moses quickly faced the reality that what he wanted to implement at the jail wouldn’t happen quickly.
"It is not going to be an easy fix. Really, I don’t know what it will take to fix some of it," Moses said. "I figured instead of just dragging this out, I would just face the reality of it.
"It was time for me to just say, ‘Hey, I’ll just leave it the way I found it, and tell the people I appreciate them for their trust.’ I hope they understand this decision was more for them than anything."
Moses said he knew that with the economy, things would be in bad shape fiscally speaking, but he didn’t realize how bad it would be for both the jail and the county as a whole.
Moses said he enjoyed working with the jail employees, and that the prisoners were even good to him.
Moses went back to work at the Cumberland Falls Water District Tuesday morning.
"I was just gone a week. They offered for me to come back, and I appreciate that," Moses said. "I am thankful to still have something to hold onto."
Moses said that he doubts he will ever run for elected office again.
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Denise, what is wrong with the city police department?
Can we still vote this person out? sounds like a crooked setup,I voted for Pat White but never again. Why have an election,dont worry Moses you will never get another win in in this county. What a mean thing to do to the people,I was stupid enough to think a person who runs for something is willing to fix the problem not sell out!
Tihis is WHITLEY COUNTY Les won th election but we only have a couple of high power officials that make all the calls. Les saw that the jail is not ran by the jailer he is told what to do by someone else. It is in a money mess and will not be fixed until not only the jailer is replaced but ALL Whitley officials are replaced so instead of destroying the good reputation that he has with the people step down I don’t blame him I would have probably done the same thing.
I just want to thank the News Journal for really digging and finding out the FULL STORY
The Whitley County Detention Center is as corrupt as the Sheriff’s office used to be. Now if we could get rid of Pat White, Paul Winchester and his sorry excuse for a secretary Betty Woods, and let’s not forget to get rid of Cathy Prewitt the most corrupt county judge in all of Kentucky. Whitley County might be able to attract some businesses so that Whitley County’s citizens might have a possible future with better jobs without fear of being attacked by one of the current idiots previously mentioned.
The jail is as corrupt as the Sheriff’s department, if not more. Jean Valjean sound’s like they’re been a frequent prisoner at the jail…hey, maybe that’s not a bad idea….it’s all corrupt now anyway except for the Sheriff’s department since Sheriff Harrell took over. The feds need to work on the city police department and the jail both. The citizen’s of Williamsburg deserve more than just a bunch of dope slinging, thieving, liars for government officials. God be with you Sheriff Harrell and all the GOOD people you’ve hired since that creep Hodge was indicted and arrested….he’s going to get desperate since he got caught, so please be careful. I’m putting the whole Sheriff’s department on the prayer list at church Sunday.
If the jail is so bad, why did he recommend the old jailer take it back over? The people of Whitley County elected him (Moses) because they didn’t want Mobley anymore. In my opinion, Pat White should not have appointed him as a replacement, and I think it smells of corruption in the highest degree.
Since it’s too late to convince Pat White to appoint someone else, I suggest we find someone else to run in November. Since there won’t be a primary, the only way for a different Republican to be on the ballot is to be nominated by the county party. If anyone wants to be considered as a candidate, contact the Whitley Co. Republican Party Chairwoman, Nancy Jones at jonesfishhatcher@bellsouth.net or (606) 549-2669 (contact info from rpk.org).
Alternatively, an Independent can run by filing a petition with Kay Schwartz signed by 100 other registered independents.
Whitley County wants a change, and it’s not going to happen with the same leadership at the jail.
Maybe commenter Jean Valjean should run!
My proposed Jail budget:
Eliminate- Jail Nurse -$46, 200
Eliminate- Chief Deputy- $35,000
Reduce medical services- $$60,000
Total saved = $141,200
1. Contract with the County Health Dept for a daily health/sick call check.
2. In the event an inmate is ill, contact EMS and transport to the ER.
3. Or have a Deputy Jailer transport to the ER.
4. Ask DOC to provide a complete Risk Assessment for the entire facility.
5. Do a job task analysis and establish essential/non essential personnel.
6. Hire only individuals that don’t have a record of DUI or Domestic Violence, or felonies. A felony conviction and domestic violence conviction prohibits invididuals from carrying firearms in the performance of their duties.
7. Seek outside supplies from the Dept Of Defense in the surplus property division. It’s called “DRMO” and the surplus equipment is free.
8. Serve meals like the Sheriff in Arizona. State prisoners are a different story.
9. Or contract a local establishment to provide 2 meals a day. That’s all is required by law. And so many calories.
10. Sell phone cards instead of allowing a 3rd party vendor to collect serious revenue from the county.
11. Examine other detention centers policies and procedures.
12. Allow inmate release programs and require the employer to provide meals during the day.
13. Create a Standard Operating Procedure “SOP” and stick to it.
14. Drug test employees.
15. Use trustees to perform county work saving the county money on labor. Ask the county attorney to look into the legalities on this.
16. Grow your own garden, many facilities do this. Some jails are nearly self sufficient.
17. Ask for volunteer educators to come in and teach self help programs.
In summation; I know that if a job task analysis was conducted along with a risk assessment there would be a tremendous savings in the jail. And I would have a LT or a SGT on each shift instead of a chief deputy. The class D coordinator is a clerical position and can be paid a little above minimum wage. A lot of things can be changed if the jailer would really try instead of just asking for money and eliminate waste.
I don’t do drugs so i have no comment on the subject, james young