Sheriff Sean Casey is criticizing a recent Alexandria City Council decision to take $200,000 from his budget for a jail operational efficiency study, while Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley says the city should reevaluate whether it wants to maintain a longstanding contract between the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Service.
On Tuesday, City Council moved forward with a proposal by Bagley and City Councilman Abdel Elnoubi to conduct the study, despite objections from Casey and members of his staff. At last Saturday’s public budget hearing, Casey said his office cannot afford the $200,000 budget reduction and asked City Council, “Do you want to be in the jail business?”
At Tuesday’s meeting, Bagley replied, “Do we want to be in the federal inmate business, in the federal incarceration business? Because if we are not then that changes our anticipated capacity, and it changes our funding sources and has real downstream effects on our budget.”
“Our jail operates at a high level, which has been recognized in the multiple accreditations they have received,” Bagley told ALXnow. “The cost of that work to Alexandrians is significant, however, especially given the level of state funding we do not receive. We find ourselves at a moment when it makes sense to evaluate the costs and benefits of this service as it relates to contracts.”
Casey said ASO recently completed its own six-week, 72-page staffing study with the National Institute of Corrections, and that he can answer most of Council’s questions.
“Of course we are disappointed with the decision to cut $200,000 from our already underfunded budget for a study that is unnecessary,” Casey told ALXnow. “The Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the City Manager and OMB (the Office of Management and Budget), could certainly provide answers to the questions Council asked, saving the taxpayers $200,000.”
Alexandria’s jail has housed a number of well-known federal inmates, including Zacarias Moussaoui, a conspirator in the 9/11 terror attacks, and former Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh.
The Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Marshals Service can terminate the contract at any time with 30 days’ notice.
“The federal contract provides the City $7.4 million of revenue a year, which significantly reduces the cost of operating a local jail for Alexandria taxpayers,” Casey said. “Without the federal contract, we know from our own analysis that even after staffing and service reductions, the City would have to absorb $4-5 million in revenue loss while still operating the local jail.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, Elnoubi said the jail has averaged 281 inmates over the past six years but must be staffed for a population of 340 unless the number of inmates in the city jail falls below 150.
“If we end the federal contract, what does that mean for the staffing and for the number of inmates in the jail?” Elnoubi asked.
The specific language in Bagley and Elnoubi’s budget item is:
$200,000 for a one-time transfer from the Sheriff’s budget for a jail operational efficiency study — The city is spending more to operate its jail than necessary because staffing levels are set for a full capacity of 340 inmates, even though the jail has averaged only 281.2 inmates over the past six years. In FY 2024, that cost taxpayers $32 million — $18.4 million of which came from local tax dollars. The jail houses more federal inmates (144.7 average) than local inmates (135.3 average), yet federal contract revenue covers only $7.4 million of operating costs while local taxpayers absorb more than double that amount. The Sheriff has indicated that the population would need to fall to 150 or fewer before staffing could be reduced. A jail operational efficiency study should evaluate whether the current staffing model can be restructured and whether alternative jail models could better align costs with actual need and relieve the burden on local taxpayers.
The news after more than a year of protests against ASO’s transferring of Alexandria inmates to ICE custody via the agency’s detainers and administrative warrants. Last fall, City Council formally asked Casey to stop transferring inmates to ICE unless required by law.
