CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County Commissioner Lance Wheeler said he wants to see state officials get involved with soaring jail bill costs in West Virginia.
Wheeler discussed the out-of-control costs during an appearance on “580 Live” with Dave Allen Tuesday. He explained that individual counties pay a per-diem rate for each day an inmate spends in jail — that rate is calculated by the state of West Virginia. Wheeler said costs continue to rise, year after year.
“This is something that the Kanawha County Commission has been leading the charge on, and it’s not something that is fun to talk about,” Wheeler said. “I understand that, but it’s something that is important, because this is becoming a larger and larger issue as we’ve talked about for many years, and that is the jail bill that counties are paying every single month.”
Wheeler noted that the Kanawha County Commission set aside a whopping $5 million dollars on its jail bill for the most recent fiscal year. That money comes from taxpayers, Wheeler explained.
Wheeler said the commission just received its May numbers on the bill and noticed some startling increases. He said there was a 26-percent increase from May 2025 to May 2026 on that month’s jail bill cost. Compared to May 2024, Wheeler said May 2026 jail bill costs are up 52 percent.
Counties in the state can’t continue on the current trajectory, Wheeler said. He called for the state to do something to address these costs — he said otherwise, counties could face bankruptcy.
“At the end of the day, this is going to be a state issue,” Wheeler said. “This is something that the state needs to look at, and say, ‘you can’t just keep doing the same thing over and over again, bouncing that expense with increase of per diem on the counties.'”
Wheeler reported that four counties in West Virginia are behind by over 90 days on paying their jail bills to the state. The concern with that tardiness, Wheeler said, is the question of how the Department of Corrections is going to be funded without that money.
The Kanawha County Commission created a Jail Bill Reduction and Opioid Diversion Task Force couple of months ago to address billing. Wheeler said the task force has already found some positive ideas to implement. He said the force identified over $30,000 in money that wasn’t billed correctly — those dollars will go back to the taxpayers.
While those suggestions are helpful, Wheeler said more extensive intervention is needed on a state level.
“Something’s got to give, because eventually the counties are not going to have the money to do the services that they need to do,” Wheeler said. “Like our EMS, like our Parks and Rec, making sure the grass is cut. We’re getting to a point that we talk about every year, the budget’s more and more difficult as a county commissioner, well, a lot of that is because the jail bill keeps going up, because in my opinion, the state keeps kicking the can down the road.”
Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango reported last month that the task force was investigating how to mitigate costs for non-violent offenders. Wheeler agreed with the assessment, saying that a portion of those offenders may be in jail related to a suspended license.
Wheeler said when people fall on hard times and they don’t have a license; it might not be long before they’re behind bars. He called for a more efficient process to deal with those cases, as well as other similar problems.
“Getting rid of government red tape, that’s all we’re talking about,” Wheeler said. “These are little things that you can do, and I always say, ‘it’s like the straw and the camel’s back. You do enough little things, you eventually get the camel to break its back.'”
Wheeler said something must be done. He added that he’s always prided himself on his problem-solving abilities.
“Every time there’s a problem, I want to know as much of the details (as I can) to find a solution,” Wheeler said. “This is one of them. I think the jail bill is one where, if you look at it, there’s some reform that we can do to help reduce this jail bill on taxpayers.”
The solution can be found with more involvement from the state, Wheeler said. Investment in the Department of Corrections remains important, he said, making sure there’s sufficient jail cells for violent offenders.
Wheeler said this is not something to trifle with, as taxpayer money is at stake. If nothing is done at a state level, he predicted more counties will be added to the list of tardy payments on jail bills.