The DeWitt County Sheriff's Department is seeing some success with a program they've recently joined.

The Sheriff's Department for the past several month has been housing Cook County inmates as a way to generated revenue and become less dependent on tax payers dollars. DeWitt County Sheriff Jered Shofner says last month they generated over $70-thousand from the contract they have with Cook County.

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There are two primary costs that take up most of the budget for the Sheriff's Department. The first is personnel. The Sheriff says by law they are required to have a certain amount of staff on hand whether their jail popoulation is nine or 99. The other is their meals, which they receive from the DJWH, which the Sheriff notes, goes back into the community.

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Sheriff Shofner says since they began housing Cook County inmates, their jail has been as close to full as it has ever been. He says the revenue generated from housing those inmates goes back into the general fund for the Couny Board, and he says it helps the County run smoother as an entity.

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Sheriff Shofner says to this point, the mixing of DeWitt and Cook County inmates has not been a problem. He says they see the same behavioral problems with everybody and he says even Cook County inmates are giving them good feedback on the quality of their facility.