Lawrence police clash with county over rising jail housing costs
Lawrence police paid about $1.7 million for jail housing last year, and the bill is set to rise again to $301 a day in 2027.
Douglas County will charge $301 a day in 2027 for municipal arrestees held more than four hours in the county jail. The Lawrence Police Department paid about $1.7 million last year for prisoner care, and Chief Rich Lockhart says the rising cost is now forcing tradeoffs in staffing, training and equipment.
The dispute centers on who controls a bill that Lawrence taxpayers ultimately pay. Lockhart has said the department does not control the pricing formula and often learns the rate after it has already been set. Douglas County Sheriff Jay Armbrister told Lockhart by email that the 2027 rate would move forward even after Lockhart tried to keep it flat.
The current charge is $287 a day, up from a rate that was under $100 in 2020, $119.33 in 2022, and $226.15 for the 2023 budget year after the county changed how the calculation was done, a June 2, 2026 Lawrence city memo on the 2027 preliminary budget says. Lockhart points to nearby counties charging less, including Wyandotte County at $85 a day and Jefferson County at $51, while Johnson County is considering a $230 charge next year.
County budget pressure is part of the backdrop. Douglas County staff proposed a $201.5 million 2027 budget with a flat 40.669-mill levy, and property taxes make up about 70% of county revenue. Sales tax revenues are projected to stay flat in 2027, interest income is expected to fall, and assessed valuation rose 4.9% in 2026 after a 5.7% gain the year before. County leaders also are weighing more than 50 additional funding requests totaling $7 million that were not included in the proposed budget.
In 2016, the county was spending an average of $90,000 a month sending inmates to other jails, and in fiscal 2015 it spent more than $523,000 on out-of-county prisoner care after budgeting $250,000. The county jail is listed at 186 beds by the Kansas Sheriffs’ Association, and commissioners approved nearly $55 million in bonds in May 2025 for renovations to the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center and a new Public Safety Building near the jail.
The county’s Corrections Division handles booking, intake, escort, transportation, reentry programming and administrative functions. Douglas County’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, created in 2016, says its early work focused on lowering incarceration, and its 2025 to 2027 strategic plan emphasizes data, pretrial reform, programs and communication.
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