RALEIGH — An investigative audit report has found financial mismanagement and withholding of cash from inmates at the Buncombe County jail.
The N.C. Office of the State Auditor (OSA) received three allegations about the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) and opened an investigation. The OSA’s investigative audit spanned from July 1, 2021, through April 30, 2024.
“As a result of this investigation and what our team found and reported on, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office has taken steps to rectify the wrong that’s been done,” State Auditor Dave Boliek said in a press release. “I’ve also reached out to the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association to offer my office’s assistance to sheriffs across the state. Together, we’ll be working on best practices to help make sure this issue doesn’t occur elsewhere.”
The OSA’s investigative audit found the BCSO “did not return $19,272 to 914 individuals that were released from custody.”
In some cases, inmates were owed thousands of dollars, and the audit found “no one in the Sheriff’s Office was ensuring the funds were returned during the inmate release process.” One example given was an inmate released in April 2023 who is owed $4,806.
The audit also found the BCSO “did not reconcile the inmate fund bank account, which contained an unsupported balance of $354,804.”
According to the audit, as of July 1, 2021, the BCSO had $100,802 more in the inmate fund bank account than it should have based on inmate records. That difference rose to $354,804 as of April 30, 2024, a 252% increase.
“As of April 1, 2024, the account held $418,176, meaning the Sheriff’s Office is unable to support 85% of the total amount held in the inmate fund bank account,” the audit states.
The inmate bank account fund is where the cash a person enters the jail with is kept while they are incarcerated or detained. If the individual is incarcerated for a length of time, family and friends can add funds to an inmate’s account for the inmate to purchase items from the detention center’s commissary.
Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller’s response to the audit didn’t disagree with the findings.
Regarding the $19,272 that was not returned to 914 released inmates, BCSO said it has identified those individuals and have begun efforts to notify and reimburse them.
Delays in addressing this issue were attributed to the timing of the audit, Hurricane Helene and staff turnover. Miller’s response also said the BCSO is implementing a more robust reconciliation process to ensure accurate fund disbursement.
For the finding concerning the $354,804 unsupported balance in the inmate fund bank account, the BCSO agreed with the recommendation to establish reconciliation procedures but indicated the reported difference does not fully reflect their cash management processes.
The BCSO also indicated that the account was reconciled monthly to the general ledger and that the majority of the discrepancy, $305,012 of the $354,804, was due to an internal reimbursement process delay involving transferring funds from the inmate account to reimburse the county’s general checking account for inmate-related expenses.
