Inside the budget for the Barton County Sheriff’s Office is an expense line for inmate medication. Jails are required to provide medication to inmates that are prescribed by contracted physicians while the subjects are incarcerated.

Sheriff Brian Bellendir says as of June 15, the Sheriff’s Office was at 95 percent of its allotted $19,000 budget for medication for the year.

Brian Bellendir Audio

Bellendir says the Sheriff’s Office is at the mercy of whatever the price is for inmates’ medication and that many of the prisons in Kansas are dealing with this issue. The Barton County Jail has averaged 105 to 108 inmates per day, and Bellendir says his department is currently only holding one out-of-county inmate. The Sheriff’s Office tries to use generic medication and prescribe the minimum required, but not properly providing inmates with medication can bring a series of lawsuits.

Brian Bellendir Audio

Barton County Commissioner Alicia Straub commented that law-abiding citizens that cannot afford medication, simply go without. Bellendir followed that statement up with many of the inmates do not use the medication once they are released.

The Sheriff estimated the medication expense would go over budget by roughly $20,000 this year. The Sheriff’s Office did address the issue with the Commissioners in current budget talks for the 2019 fiscal year.