In a nutshell
The five-year contract will take effect Nov. 1 and is valued at $8.1 million in the first year, increasing annually to $9.5 million in the fifth year, according to agenda documents. First Assistant County Attorney Amy Davidson said the agreement is nonexclusive and was heavily negotiated.
Montgomery County Sheriff Wesley Doolittle said the agreement will expand services at the jail, including the addition of a full-time psychiatrist, which the facility currently lacks. He said the program is expected to save the county about $300,000 in the first year while improving safety and professionalism.
“This is just another step in continuing along that path to make our office a little bit more professional, to partner with a state agency that's not a for-profit business to provide excellent services and to increase the level of services to those in our custody at the jail,” Doolittle said.
Diving in deeper
Doolittle said that working with a state university instead of a for-profit provider will improve stability and help pursue grants and cost-saving projects to support jail operations.
Per the agenda documents, the cost breakdown over the next five years is:
- November 2025: $8.1 million
- November 2026: $8.4 million
- November 2027: $8.8 million
- November 2028: $9.1 million
- November 2029: $9.5 million
“I just wanted to thank you [Doolittle] for your hard work and working on efficiencies. I knew we'd saved quite a bit of money on that, so it's a good program and a little more stable as well,” Gray said.
