SNOW HILL — Greene County Board of Commissioners has approved contracting with a new company for commissary services at the jail.
The decision follows the current company’s contract ending January and the arrest of the former jail administrator after about $10,000 was found missing from the commissary fund.
The chief jailer, Eric Devon Johnson, was dismissed May 24. He was arrested by the State Bureau of Investigation on May 30 for one count of embezzlement, according to the N.C. Department of Justice.
Interim County Manager Richard Hicks explained the process to the board Monday night.
“One of the concerns we had,” he said, “… we actually had a problem in the jail with missing funds — was the amount of time and effort in what was involved in the county employees collecting money — (they) had to bring it to the county office and count it throughout the entire process.”
By contracting with Keefe Commissary Network, based in St. Louis, the only money the county would touch would be what cash is collected from the inmates and put into a locked box, Hicks told the board.
Keefe, which handles Lenoir County’s inmate transactions, would handle cash and credit card transactions made by the inmate’s family members through a kiosk located in the lobby near the sheriff’s office. It would also handle cash deposits through a booking kiosk when an inmate is admitted to the jail. Cash would be picked up by Brinks, a secure cash transporting service.
From the time the new jail opened in January 2011, cash involved in the lobby kiosk transactions has been carried by hand by the jail administrator to the county office and deposited into the commissary fund.
“I think Brinks actually comes in and picks up all their funds,” Hicks said. “They take in the funds and calculate the percentages. And all those are turned into the county. So our staff would not have to touch anything.”
The new system allows inmates to have a Visa card that keeps account of what monies they have available for purchases.
Hicks said the system will be more secure.
“We think what they offer, as far as the types of food and items that are listed, is probably better,” Hicks said about Keefe’s services.
Inmates could use either a phone or kiosk in the cell block to order purchases, while the system keeps a running tally of available funds. The county would receive 20 percent of net sales.
The kiosks in the cell blocks would need wiring installed and the county’s commission rate would be reduced to 15 percent for the first five years. The percentage difference between the phone and kiosk system would basically pay for the kiosk, Hicks said.
The board agreed to go with the phone system. The process will take about 90 days for a contract to be signed and the system to be up and running.
Sandy Barss, the county finance officer, said she noticed towards the end of April the commissary fund was depleted after the former finance officer, Shawna Wooten, left.
Barss said she had to call the jailer several times in April to remind him to bring the money to the county office.
“In February 2013, that account was in the red,” she said.
Under normal circumstances, the money is deposited into the commissary fund and the same amount of money is paid to the commissary supply company.
“There should never have been an instance,” Barss said, “where the money was going into the red.”
She contacted the current contractor, McDaniel Supply Company, based in Jesup, Ga., to find out what was wrong. Barss said she was told it was a computer problem.
Once she was shown by a McDaniel representative in May how to get into the computer system, she realized it was more than a computer problem.
“The only thing I could find whenever this started to happen,” she said, “the monies being deposited into the kiosk … and the date on the deposits — because you had a list of transactions — those were not reconciling.”
The lobby kiosk was installed and the contract with McDaniel began in Jan. 2011 when the new judicial center opened.
“The best we can gather,” Barss said, “… the money started missing in late 2011. We can’t pinpoint the exact day.”
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.