How West Virginia Counties Pay for Jail Housing: Discounted, Base, and Overage rates explained
If you have a loved one in custody, you've probably heard county officials or jail staff mention per-day "rates" and "pro rata days." West Virginia uses a three-tier per-diem structure. Once you understand how the bands work, the billing language gets much easier to follow.
The daily cost per inmate in West Virginia comes from the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Offender Rate page, effective July 1, 2023. That page is the single reference point for the statewide per-day amounts used in county jail billing.
West Virginia's Offender Rate page breaks county jail billing into three per-diem rates: - The Discounted Rate is $43.58 (80% of last fiscal year's per diem). - The Base Rate is $54.48 (last fiscal year's per diem). - The Overage Rate is $65.38 (120% of last fiscal year's per diem). Those labels can sound abstract until you connect them to how many inmate days a county is "allowed" before the price changes. The state assigns each county a pro rata day baseline, then applies the discounted, base, or overage amount depending on where the county's billed inmate days fall within that baseline.
- ✓ Discounted Rate ($43.58): applied to the first 80% of a county’s pro rata inmate days.
- ✓ Base Rate ($54.48): used for billed inmate days from 80% through 100% of a county’s pro rata days.
- ✓ Overage Rate ($65.38): applied to any billed inmate days over 100% of a county’s pro rata days.
"Pro rata days" are county-specific inmate-day numbers that serve as the 100% benchmark for billing. You can find these baselines in the Jails Billing Information PDF, which lists each county's base number of pro rata days (100%) alongside the county's "under 80% of base" number. To put that in perspective, Kanawha County's base pro rata days (100%) are listed at 93,987.
- Find the county’s 100% pro rata day baseline: In the Jails Billing Information PDF, Kanawha County’s base number of pro rata days (100%) is 93,987.
- Find the county’s 80% threshold: The same PDF lists Kanawha County’s “# of inmate days under 80% of base” as 75,190.
- Use those two numbers to understand the billing bands: For Kanawha County, the first band runs from day 1 up through 75,190 (the “under 80%” figure). The next band runs from 75,190 up through 93,987 (the full 100% base). Any billed inmate days above 93,987 fall into the over-100% range.
Why families hear about "rates" at all: The state uses set per-day amounts (including a discounted band) that apply differently depending on the billing level. County jail costs can shift as billed inmate days move through those bands.
For the current statewide per-diem amounts and framework (effective July 1, 2023), start with the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation Offender Rate page. For county-by-county baselines, check the Jails Billing Information PDF. It lists each county's base pro rata days (100%) and the "under 80% of base" figure. If you want a concrete example to get oriented, Kanawha County is listed with 93,987 base pro rata days (100%).
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