According to the agreement between the two counties, Spalding County will supply Upson County with a work detail consisting of one correctional officer and 12 inmates from the Spalding County Correctional Institute.
The work detail will work eight hours per day Monday through Friday, except for times of inclement weather.
Upson County will furnish tools and safety equipment for inmates and the vehicle to transport them, as well as the cost of the officer’s salary and benefits, which will be $10,999.00 per quarter.
The agreement will go into effect on Oct. 1, 2008, and remain in effect until Sept. 30, 2009.
Assistant to the County Manager Paul Van Haute said Spalding County has been sending inmate work details to other counties since 2004 or 2005. He said the practice is beneficial to Spalding County.
“It generates revenue to the county, it takes the inmates out and lets them work and provides a benefit to an additional county,” he said.
Spalding County Board of Commissioners Chairman Eddie Goss said the agreement with Upson County is similar to the agreements that Spalding County has with the city of Griffin and other counties.
He said Upson County is responsible for all the costs and Spalding County simply provides the inmates. Furthermore, he said, the inmates enjoy participating on the work crews.
Kyle Hood, county manager of Upson County, said it has not been decided what specific projects the inmates will work on.
“That would ... be decided as we go along,” he said.
Hood praised the deal as a sign of intergovernmental cooperation.
Upson County Board of Commissioners member Steve Hudson said Upson County wanted to contract for a work crew last year but the budget did not allow for it.
He said inmate work crews allow Upson County to get more work done for less money.
“It’s a whole lot better than it would be if we had to hire people,” he said.
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