While Fresno County may be shooting itself in the foot by reducing the number of federal inmates at its jail, Fresno Bee, 5/25 and Fresno Bee, 5/26, the housing of more federal pretrial detainees at Kern County's Lerdo Jail may turn out to be a win-win scenario on the federal side. From what I've heard from Fresno defense attorneys, federal detainees generally prefer Lerdo over Fresno's jail because of its food (two hot meals a day) and better medical and dental care. The feds win as they pay less per inmate under their contract with Kern County than they do with inmates housed in Fresno, saving taxpayers big bucks. And now that the marshals have graciously agreed to transport federal Kern County inmates to Fresno once a week for attorney-client meetings at their lockup, attorneys no longer have to spend the time and money to drive to Bakersfield to see clients at Lerdo. The only hitch is that attorneys have to notify the Fresno Federal Defender's Office by 4 p.m. Tuesday to set up an interview for later in the week and will have to abide by a scheduled interview time. The marshals will make the trip to Fresno once a week on either Thursday or Friday, depending on Judge O'Neill's criminal calendar.
The loser seems to be Fresno County. It turned away potentially millions in federal fees while it is laying off staff due to budget constraints. Fresno Bee, 6/13. And, word is that the increased numbers at Lerdo are expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Let's hope the feds can negotiate a better contract with Fresno County in the next go-round with improved medical and mental health treatment for all federal inmates.