KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- Adair County Sheriff Bob Hardwick is trying to find ways to make the wheels of justice and the legal system turn a little more efficiently.
On Monday, Hardwick called Adair County law enforcement officers, judges, court clerks and county commissioners to the jail for a tour and brainstorming session.
He told KTVO he wanted to get input from all the various agencies involved in the legal and judicial process.
“What I did is call for the meeting for everybody to look at what they're doing and see if there's anyway during their daily operation or daily process, if there's a way that they could improve on something that has an opportunity to affect all of us," said Hardwick.
Hardwick says he wanted the group to gather at the Adair County Detention Center so they can see first-hand the issues the Sheriff's Office has to deal with.
He told the group about the increasing costs of housing inmates who have health and mental health issues.
"While they're incarcerated, we have to address all of their medical and mental needs, so that becomes very costly while they're in here. And, the duration of the time they're there can incur a large amount of costs per inmate or per the whole facility," said Hardwick.
Hardwick told the group the Adair County Jail currently has one inmate who requires 16 or 17 medications a day.
The sheriff says over the past month, the average daily inmate population has been 56.
He says a lot of those inmates have medical issues.
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