Former Bent County Sheriff Goes on Record About Inmate Account

(Las Animas, CO) -- Former Bent County Sheriff David Encinias wants the community to know that he never talked to Sheriff Jake Six about the inmate account. At a Bent County Commissioners Meeting Thursday, July 25th, Six was questioned as to why the inmate account in his care had been overdrawn by $900 and nearly $90,000 was spent.

Six explained it was common place to use the inmate account to repair the jail because it is for the safety and security of the inmates. He mentioned talking to former Bent County Sheriff David Encinias to confirm it.

CNYW reached out to Encinias to ask about whether or not that phone call happened and Encinias tells us that it did not. "the inmate funds are dedicated to the offenders for their hygiene, their clothing, their bedding, their blankets. It's not expenditures to fix the facility it's just directly for the offenders, period." He ended to say that he never used the inmate account to fix the jail.

Six sat before County Commissioners for more than an hour to explain that his office has had trouble getting the board to approve items in his budget that included repairing the jail. This became a priority following escapes from the jail. The Sheriff went to say using the funds was necessary to make the repairs. Commissioners responded they felt Six using the funds from the inmate account was a misuse of funds and would like to see that going forward it doesn't happen again.

Other budget frustrations were addressed such as broken IPads that needed to be replaced, and a time-entry system that didn't allow them to know exactly when employees were working or not.

Commissioners also questioned the Sheriff about the purchase of a drone and the needed certification to operate it as well as the purchase and training of a K-9.

The meeting can be viewed at: https://www.bentcounty.net/government/video_record.php