With the purchase of every $7 phone call and overpriced pack of ramen noodles, people held at the El Paso County jail are chipping away at the jail’s mental health care bill — a seemingly novel spin on cost-cutting that critics say is unethical and possibly illegal.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that the office dips into proceeds from jail commissary and phone services to defray expenses from its private medical services contract. Since 2019, the office has spent nearly $1.8 million from the so-called inmate commissary fund to pay down its health services contract, earmarking the spending for mental health, according to figures the office provided to The Gazette.