The regional jail authority has broad powers to run the jail, make rules, contract, own property, borrow money, issue bonds, hire staff, house prisoners, and charge incarceration fees.
The regional jail authority shall constitute a public body corporate and politic, exercising public and essential governmental functions and having all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this chapter and including, but not limited to, the following powers: (1) To sue and be sued in its own name in civil actions, subject to the limitations provided in Chapter 93 of Title 11, and, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, to defend civil actions against it. (2) To adopt and make use of a corporate seal and to alter the seal at pleasure. (3) To have perpetual succession. (4) To make and from time to time amend and repeal bylaws, rules, and regulations to carry into effect the powers and purposes of the authority. (5) To make, enter into, and execute contracts, agreements, leases, and other instruments and to take other actions as may be necessary or convenient to accomplish any purpose for which the authority was organized or to exercise any power expressly granted under this section. (6) To acquire, receive, take, or dispose of, by purchase, sale, gift, lease, devise, or otherwise, and to hold property of every description, real, personal, or mixed, that the authority may deem necessary to accomplish its purposes. (7) To plan, establish, develop, acquire, purchase, lease, construct, reconstruct, renovate, enlarge, improve, maintain, equip, and operate a regional jail facility which will serve as the county jail for each member county of the regional jail authority. (8) To sell and issue bonds in order to provide funds for any corporate function, use, or purpose, pursuant to the same rules and regulations established for water, sewer, and fire protection districts as found in Chapter 89 of Title 11. (9) To borrow money for any of its purposes. (10) To appoint, employ, contract with, and provide for the compensation of officers, employees, and agents as the purposes of the authority may require, including, but not limited to, engineers, architects, attorneys, management consultants, private jail management firms, fiscal advisers, and in particular, a superintendent to manage the regional jail facility, and jail personnel as necessary to operate and maintain the facility. (11) To house all prisoners of the counties participating in the authority in its regional jail facility, and if the facility is sufficient and if space is available over and above space necessary to house prisoners of the participating counties, to receive into custody and house any persons committed under any federal, state, or municipal offense. (12) To fix, revise, charge, and collect fees for the incarceration of prisoners housed in the regional jail facility from the counties participating in the authority and from any other local, state, or federal governmental entity whose prisoners are housed in the facility.