Web Site Connects Jail-Bed Renters with Sellers

JANESVILLE, Wis. – Jail administrators seeking to rent beds for their overflow inmates are now using a unique new online service that connects them with available bed space. They need only click on a map.

JailBedSpace.com is available in 48 states and currently has 151 agencies using the service, which includes color-coded maps to help jailers to market empty cells to other government agencies, or find space for rent.

“I’ve had a lot of people say to me, 'We thought about doing that,'” says Steve Gardner, president of FSG Software Inc. “We actually did it.” FSG, a 24-year-old jail records-management software company, began developing the Web site in fall 2002 and launched it in July 2003.

One new subscriber is Major Patrick Tighe, director of the St. Lucie County Department of Detention, where the 960-bed jail has a current head count of 1,248 inmates. “I like being able to click on a county. It brings up the jail adminstrator's name, his direct phone number, his e-mail address, and even directions to the facility,” says Tighe.

“We just signed up for it, and right now I can tell you there's only three counties with beds available in Florida,” Tighe says. “Without the service, I would have to sit a staff member down to call 67 counties to find jail space. Now it's a keystroke.”

The number of jails using JailBedSpace.com is growing steadily, another of the latest being Putnam County in New York. “It's a good marketing tool,” says Lt. Robert LeFever of the Putnam County Correctional Facility, which rents out an average of 60 beds per day.

Putnam County is the first in the state of New York to use the service. “Once jail administrators really know its out there, I think they'll access it more,” LeFever told Correctional News. “It's new, but we are getting somewhere with it.”

Federal agencies have yet to enroll, but as JailBedSpace.com continues to catch on, the new tool could tempt the U.S. Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But there's no need to wait. A county charging $50 a day per inmate can recoup the $250-a-year fee by boarding just five prisoners overnight.

Sgt. Joann Keller works at an overcrowded 67-bed jail in Grant County, Wis., and has been using the service since September. “I have to see who is selling beds if I want to get inmates out of the facility quickly,” Keller says. “It saves a lot of phone calls.”