Last month, we examined the factors that impact a per diem rate for housing federal prisoners in local jails. They include staffing, healthcare, facility operations, transportation, and administrative support. They also include the local conditions that shape what it costs a county to provide federal detention services.
We also raised a central question. When a facility’s operations change, does its current per diem rate still reflect the true cost of operating the jail? This month, we’re looking at what happens when a county takes a closer look at that question.
In Jackson County, Kansas, and Muskogee County, Oklahoma, a comprehensive federal detention cost analysis became documented, supportable information. Each county used that information during negotiations with its federal partner. Here is what that process looked like in practice. And here’s what it meant for two JailGeek clients. Both were working to align their federal per diem rate with the true cost of their operation.
Jackson County, Kansas
Several years had passed since the Jackson County Jail’s federal per diem rate was last evaluated.
Working with the Sheriff, Robyn Green, JailGeek’s Vice President of Business Analytics, evaluated the facility’s core costs. Those included staffing, healthcare, facility operations, transportation, and administrative costs. Together, they built a complete, current picture of the cost of providing federal detention services. The result: JailGeek increased the Sheriff’s per diem rate by 35.7%.
“We value our partnership with the U.S. Marshals Service, providing them with bedspace in our jail and transporting their prisoners to federal court. Joe Summerill and his team helped us establish new rates that more accurately reflect the necessary costs to support these services. This will allow us to continue providing high-quality service to the Marshals while minimizing the financial impact on our county taxpayers.”
– Sheriff Tim Morse, Jackson County, KS
Beyond the specific outcome, county leadership gained something less quantifiable but equally valuable: a clear, current picture of what the facility actually costs to run. That picture now serves as a reference point for the county’s own budgeting and planning going forward.
Muskogee County, Oklahoma
A similar process took place in Muskogee County. The details reflected a different facility, a different local economy, and a different set of operational realities.
The JailGeek analytics team reviewed the county’s current cost structure across the same core categories. Those included personnel, healthcare, facility operations, transportation, and administrative support. From there, the team identified which costs were allowable, allocable, and supportable. The result: JailGeek increased the Sheriff’s per diem rate by 46.6%.
“Robyn Green and her team helped us identify all the costs associated with operating our facility. She carefully reviewed our expenses and put together a strong application for our federal partners. Her knowledge and expertise helped us negotiate fair rates that will allow us to continue housing federal prisoners without putting an unnecessary burden on the county.”
– Sheriff Andy Simmons, Muskogee County, OK
For Muskogee County, the value showed up in a similar way. It wasn’t just the documentation itself. It was the confidence that came from knowing the numbers behind it could withstand scrutiny. That scrutiny could come from county leadership or from federal partners.
Results Across the Country
Jackson County and Muskogee County are not isolated examples.
JailGeek’s FairRate methodology has now been applied in 119 counties across 31 states. Results include a 98% success rate in negotiating improved intergovernmental service agreements. The counties JailGeek works with also see an average per diem rate increase of $20. According to U.S. Marshals Service data, JailGeek’s partner facilities house a significant share of the national population. Nearly 40% of all U.S. Marshals prisoners in state and local jails nationwide are housed at JailGeek partner facilities. Those facilities represent more than 15,600 federal detention beds and over 5.7 million federal prisoner days.
Those numbers look different at every facility. El Paso County, Texas, saw nine months of stalled negotiations with the U.S. Marshals Service. FairRate identified approximately $5.3 million in additional annual reimbursement, ending the standstill. At Knox County, Indiana, a per diem rate had underestimated jail operating costs by roughly $1.8 million. An out-of-cycle negotiation corrected it, resulting in a 61.7% increase in federal detention reimbursement with no change in detainee population. For St. Lucie County, Florida, a detailed analysis covered the county’s medical services and dedicated transport team. That analysis supported a 50% increase in the per diem rate and a 71% increase in transport reimbursements.
Every facility’s circumstances are different, and every cost analysis reflects a specific operation rather than a generic industry benchmark. What stays consistent across engagements, from a small rural facility to a multi-thousand-bed county system, is the process. That process rests on facility-specific data and a clear understanding of the governing Intergovernmental Agreement. It ends with documentation built to hold up in a conversation with federal partners.
From Analysis to Documentation
It’s worth pausing on what happens in between. A county starts by deciding to look at its federal per diem rate. From there, the work continues until that county can sit down with documentation to support a rate change.
According to JailGeek’s Ms. Green, “The process starts with data collection: payroll and staffing records, healthcare contracts and utilization, facility maintenance and capital expenses, transportation logs, and the administrative costs that support detention operations from other county departments.” Some of that information lives directly within the jail’s budget. Some of it doesn’t: human resources support, finance, information technology, and sheriff’s office administration all sit outside it. Identifying those costs is its own step in the process.
“Once we have identified those support costs outside the jail budget, our work shifts to determining the correct allocation method for each cost,” explains Ms. Green. “Not every dollar a county department spends relates to detention operations,” she notes, “and not every dollar that does relate to detention operations is allocated in the same way.” JailGeek’s proprietary allocation methodology is built from years of experience working within federal cost principles. It determines which costs belong in the analysis and what portion of shared costs can be attributed to the facility.
The final step is documentation. That means organizing the data and methodology into a form county leadership can understand and federal partners can evaluate. This is the piece that turns a cost analysis into something a county can actually use in a reimbursement conversation. For the JailGeek analysts helping Jackson County and Muskogee County, this was the key stage. The earlier data collection and allocation work became something concrete here. It became a resource the counties could bring directly to their federal partners.
What These Results Have in Common
None of these outcomes started with a target number. Each began with the same question we raised last month. What does it cost this facility to provide federal detention services today?
From there, the process looked the same regardless of a county’s size, geography, or which federal agency it partners with. Ms. Green and her team of analysts gathered facility-specific financial and operational data. From that, they identified which costs appropriately related to detention operations, then built a supportable allocation methodology behind those costs. The rate conversation came last, built on documentation rather than assumption.
That consistency matters, and it’s worth sitting with for a moment. It means the results at Jackson County and Muskogee County are not one-time outcomes unique to those facilities. They reflect a repeatable methodology: the same one behind every engagement JailGeek undertakes. That holds true whether a county works with the U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or both.
As JailGeek Co-Founder and CEO Joe Summerill puts it, “Expertise illuminates complexity. Specialized knowledge outperforms trial and error. When federal regulations are properly understood, opportunities emerge that others cannot see.”
It also raises a natural next question. If the process is consistent, what does it actually involve from a county’s perspective? From the first data request to the final documentation, that’s what we’ll walk through in November.
Understand What Your Federal Detention Costs Look Like Today
Federal detention operations change, and the financial picture behind them can change too. Jackson County and Muskogee County are two examples of counties taking a data-driven look at that picture. Neither waited for the question to resolve itself.
Through FairRate, JailGeek provides federal detention reimbursement consulting, county jail consulting, and comprehensive federal detention cost analysis. Our team evaluates facility-specific financial and operational data and identifies allowable and allocable costs. From there, we develop supporting documentation. That documentation helps counties prepare for informed reimbursement and detention agreement negotiations with their federal partners.
Your county might be evaluating an existing IGA or considering a new federal detention agreement. Or maybe you’re simply curious how Jackson County and Muskogee County approached the process. Either way, the first step is the same: establishing an accurate picture of your operation today.
Request a consultation with JailGeek to evaluate your federal detention costs. We’ll help you determine whether the data supports pursuing an increase to your federal per diem rate.
Better Insights. Better Rates. Better Results.