Hamilton County spending up to $3K a day to send inmates to Butler County. Is there an alternative?

County taxpayers are spending as much as $3,300 a day to send inmates to Butler County’s jail to relieve overcrowded, unsafe conditions because Sheriff Jim Neil says he has no room for them at the Hamilton County Justice Center. Three months ago, Neil declared an emergency at the Hamilton County Justice Center, saying the building was so overpopulated and unsafe that he would begin to ship inmates to Butler County. Since then, the sheriff has consistently kept 25 or more inmates daily at Butler County, running up a tab of more than $165,000 in the last three months. At peak points in June, Hamilton County was sending as many as 45 inmates to the neighboring jail.