The Record → Population
The Record · PopulationFinding: the jail held 4,467 fewer prisoner days in FY2026 than FY2025, and asked for 8.889% more money.
Local prisoner days fell from 407,989 in FY2025 to 403,522 in FY2026 — 1.09% fewer — and average daily local population fell from 1,117.52 to 1,105.34. The Local Prisoner Day Report is the one table in this packet the Authority itself labels audited days. Every locality's bill still went up.
Local prisoner days and average daily population by member locality · Period: FY2025 and FY2026 monthly and year totals · Source: RRJA July 23, 2026 agenda packet, Local Prisoner Day Report, p. 9, printed as audited days, a public record of the Rappahannock Regional Jail Authority (rrj.state.va.us). Retrieved August 22, 2026. · This table is not marked pending audit in the source; the financial tables it sits beside are.
Two years, month by month
RRJA-2026-07-23-prisoner-days.csv, packet
p. 9. February is short in both years; the low month of FY2026 is
February 2026 at 30,506 days.↓ Download CSV — local prisoner days, FY2025 and FY2026 monthly
Who the days belong to
| Locality | FY2026 days | FY2026 ADP | Share | FY2025 days | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stafford | 176,297 | 482.94 | 43.69% | 176,678 | −381 |
| Spotsylvania | 138,199 | 378.64 | 34.27% | 134,063 | +4,136 |
| Fredericksburg | 70,158 | 192.13 | 17.38% | 75,113 | −4,955 |
| King George | 18,868 | 51.63 | 4.67% | 22,135 | −3,267 |
| Total local | 403,522 | 1,105.34 | 100.00% | 407,989 | −4,467 |
Computed: year-over-year change by locality — King George -14.76%, Fredericksburg -6.6%, Stafford -0.22%, Spotsylvania +3.09%. Three of four localities sent fewer people. Total change -1.09%, average daily population down 12.18.
Local prisoner days, average daily population and share of local days by locality · Period: FY2025 and FY2026 · Source: RRJA July 23, 2026 agenda packet, Local Prisoner Day Report, p. 9, a public record of the Rappahannock Regional Jail Authority (rrj.state.va.us). Retrieved August 22, 2026.
People held for someone else's paperwork
Two populations sit inside that average and neither belongs to the four localities. State-responsible people awaiting certification by the 15th District Court fell from an average daily count of 116 in July 2025 to 65 in June 2026 — 51 fewer, 44.0%. Federal detainees accounted for 20,047 inmate days.
RRJA-2026-07-23-adc-awaiting-certification.csv, packet p. 56.
Lamp bar is the last reported month.↓ Download CSV — average daily count awaiting certification
Average daily count of state-responsible inmates awaiting 15th District Court certification · Period: FY2026 monthly · Source: RRJA July 23, 2026 agenda packet, p. 56, a public record of the Rappahannock Regional Jail Authority (rrj.state.va.us). Retrieved August 22, 2026.
The bigger caseload nobody calls a jail
In June 2026 the Authority's community corrections programs carried an average daily caseload of 1,856.75 people — Pretrial 1,005.25, Community-Based Probation 802.50, Adult Drug Treatment Court 39.00, Juvenile Drug Treatment Court 5.00, Electronic Monitoring 5. That is computed at 1.71 times the 1,084.47 average daily local population inside the building that month. The cheaper thing already carries more people than the cage does.
↓ Download CSV — community corrections average daily caseload
Average daily caseload by community corrections program · Period: June 2026, FY2026 monthly series · Source: RRJA July 23, 2026 agenda packet, p. 61, a public record of the Rappahannock Regional Jail Authority (rrj.state.va.us). Retrieved August 22, 2026. · Community-Based Probation has no labeled value for July 2025 on the source chart; that gap is carried through.
Four hundred three thousand five hundred twenty-two days.
Four thousand four hundred sixty-seven fewer than the year before,
and not one dollar came home with them.
King George sent fourteen point seven six percent fewer of its neighbors,
and King George was handed a bill one hundred twenty-five thousand five hundred and three dollars heavier.
Explain the arithmetic to me slowly, the way you would to a child,
because I am a grown man and I cannot make it work.
Fewer bodies. Bigger cage. Same seat at the same table.
Move or Be Moved.
Musings of Sir Paul the Apostle · written for this page's figures, August 22, 2026
Publish cost per prisoner day next to the population every quarter.
- The ask
- The packet already reports local prisoner days and total expenditures. It has never printed the one division that connects them. Make it a standing line in the Superintendent's report: expenditures divided by local prisoner days, by locality, and the FY’27 budget on the same denominator — on FY2026 days, $143.58 a day, $19.25 more than FY2026's $124.34.
- Who it goes to
- The Rappahannock Regional Jail Authority Board — the four member sheriffs and the administrator or supervisor designated by each locality — and Col. Kevin Hudson, Superintendent.
- Where it can be said out loud
- The next quarterly Authority Board meeting, Roll Call Room at the jail, public comment first. Dates as noticed are on Act; the last on record was July 23, 2026 at 1:00 pm.