Lisa Fisher, a nurse at the Franklin County jail, cringes when county officials boast that they haven't laid off a single worker because of the bad economy.

Why then, Fisher asks, will she and 36 other nurses be out of work after Jan. 3?

The sheriff's office has told the nurses union that it plans to privatize inmate medical care, a move that it thinks would save about $750,000 a year.

But the nurses note that things didn't go well the last time the county went outside for help. In 2001, the county hired Ohio State University to provide medical services for jail inmates. Taxpayers paid $22.4 million for a three-year contract that was supposed to cost $11.7 million.

"I don't think the officials are being good stewards of the taxpayers' money by hiring an agency again," said Fisher, a county nurse for five years.

In a letter to the nurses union, Deputy Chief Mark J. Barrett said the sheriff's office is negotiating with an agency that bid to supply jail nurses. Barrett said last week that he couldn't comment on the plans.

"The county says it is a cost-saving measure," said Andrea Johan, staff representative for the Ohio Labor Council of the Fraternal Order of Police. "In effect, it becomes a permanent layoff."

Commissioners and the sheriff hired in-house nurses in 2004 after a decade of using private vendors. The county estimated that hiring its own nurses would save $2.4 million a year.

Kathy Hudson, one of the first nurses hired by the county, said the nurses worked hard to lower costs by verifying that inmates had medical orders for drugs requested and by switching to generics.

"I'm 58 and there are not a lot of jobs out there," said Hudson, who helps support a grown daughter and two grandchildren.

County nurses are paid about $47,000 a year. Jessica Ibrahim, a jail nurse for five years, said most nurses won't apply to work for an outside agency.

"The money is less, the benefits aren't there," Ibrahim said. "We don't work in the jail because it's beautiful and glorious. We work there for the benefits."

Kimberly Graves, the union president and a jail nurse, said the county, which doesn't have to offer a severance package, should take another look at the proposal.

"The county is not hurting for money," Graves said. "It's outsourced before, and it's not worked."

bcarmen@dispatch.com