out there working in someone else’s kitchen.” And, he

out there working in someone else’s kitchen.” And, he pointed out, the cooks would have to be paid staff since trustees couldn’t help at the schools. , Besides avoiding the logistical problems of moving the food, having a kitchen at the jail will eventually save money. Sheriff Woodward maintained.

While the $3 per meal charge has been the same for the past three years, the total paid for food services has steadily escalated, going from $22,000 in 1985-86 to $25,000 in 198687, and to $32,000 last year.

According to the Department of Corrections, if the Rappahannock jail has its own kitchen, “there’s no reason whatsoever why we can’t feed a prisoner for $1.50 a day, and that’s for three meals. But even if it cost us $1.50 per meal, that’s $15,000 more that’s going to stay in the general fund (as compared with the current food services contract),” Sheriff Woodward said.

The state will pay half of the construction cost for a jail kitchen, and if the board decides to build a three-story addition, “we can also get some office space, and you all know how we’re hurting for office space everywhere throughout the county,” he told the supervisors. With this extra space, the Sheriffs Department could vacate the rooms it now uses in the Commissioner of Revenue’s office, Sheriff Woodward noted.

Also, a basement would provide room for storage and possibly for two holding cells, according to the sheriff. Having basement “drunk tanks” would remove a disruptive and noisy element from the general jail population and free space for two more prisoners, he said, adding, “The more prisoners I can hold, the more money I can make.”

He explained that the state pays $7.50 per prisoner per day, with a guaranteed minimum of $20,000 per year. This doesn’t cover the $9 per day it now costs to feed a prisoner, but once an individual becomes a convicted felon, the county

See KITCHEN, p. 16