(CNN) A 12-year-old video showing a sheriff discussing the cost of inmate and suspect deaths has sparked controversy in the California county where he is facing re-election.

The video of Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood is reportedly from a 2006 interview he gave during his first campaign for sheriff (he was elected that same year). In the minute-long clip, Youngblood sits at a table with his audience out of view. He appears to be addressing deputy training and costs to the sheriff's office when he poses a hypothetical situation about a "deputy that shoots someone in the streets."

"Which way do you think is better financially, to cripple them or kill them...for the county?" he says. Someone answers, "Kill them?"

"Absolutely," Youngblood responds. "Because if you cripple them you gotta take care of them for life, and that cost goes way up."

Earlier in the clip he seems to say that the difference between killing and wounding a suspect and a person in custody is "millions and millions of dollars."

Read More