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. 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.
(Read more: Great Bend Post)