Sullivan Jail Fails State Test
Overcrowding cited as major flaw
Just two hours after Sullivan County jail officials met in Kingsport to discuss jail improvements, a state board in Nashville denied certification, blocking an increase in state aid.
During their lunch meeting, some members of the county jail committee expressed hope that the facility eventually would receive state certification and, therefore, increased state funding.
But at midafternoon, other officials said, the state Board of Control for the Tennessee Corrections Institute denied certification of the overcrowded jail.
The main reason for denying certification to Sullivan County’s facility, said state Director of Jail Inspection Chuck Fisher, was overcrowding.
Tennessee Corrections Institute minimum standards require 25 square feet per inmate. He said the Sullivan County jail workhouse has 4, the trusty and female sections 13, and another part of the jail 20 — still not good enough. :
Also, 16 of the jail’s 47 sinks are inoperable, as are five of the 47 commodes. There is no lighting in some of the individual cells, and the water heating system is inadequate.
At the committee meeting, Sheriff Mike Gardner said confusion resulting from the crowding was one reason convicted murderer Ronald Kaywood was able to walk out of jail Monday. He also acknowledged in a later interview that a hearing today will determine if two jail guards were guilty of any improprieties in the escape.
When a new or improved jail is built, Gardner said, “security should remain a top priority.”
Gardner notified the committee of a recent opinion by the state attorney general that county jails must comply with “each and every” minimum state standard, rather than a “majority” of them.
The committee reviewed three options for improving the jail: revamping one of two plans the county already paid for but which were rejected by county commissioners as too costly; renovating part of the jail and adding some new sections; or a plan submitted previously by Sullivan County Attorney General Carl Kirkpatrick.
“The general public has the idea that we’re trying to build a Taj Mahal, and all we’re trying to do is comply with minimum standards,” Gardner said.
The Sullivan County jail is one of the 59 county jails, workhouses, penal farms and detention centers that were denied certification in Thursday’s quarterly Board of Control meeting. There are 109 such facilities statewide.
In other state prison action, Lt. Gov. John Wilder said a rash of escapes from state prisons has made communities less willing to accept even work camps.
Wilder said residents of Wayne County are not as comfortable as they once were about the 125-bed work camp under construction in their district.
“T believe 90 percent of the people down there are against this thing now,” Wilder said.
The state Building Committee. of which Wilder is a member, voted Thursday to continue construction of a second work camp in Carter County. An estimated $800,000 cost overrun had delayed the project.
Correction Commissioner Ernest Pellegrin announced approval had been given to build a third camp adjacent to the Lake County Regional Correctional Facility.
