Sullivan’s new jail crowded

Prisoners already have spilled out of Sullivan County’s four-month-old, $6 million jail and into the jail annex, built initially to relieve crowding in the old jail, which closed in October.

Sheriff Mike Gardner says the cause of the problem has not changed: state prisoners are filling up the 221-inmate jail, and using the beds and money the county had set aside for its own prisoners, Sullivan County now has 223 inmates, and is keeping 27 of them at-the jail annex, Chief Deputy Randy Grimes said. Of those inmates, 60 are state prisoners who have been sentenced and are awaiting shipment to a state prison. Fifty-one are pretrial detainees, or state prisoners who have not yet been tried.

The full jail comes as no surprise to county officials who knew 18 months ago the two-story jail would be full almost as soon as it opened, and that the ‘‘temporary”’ 96-inmate holding facility would actually become a permanent jail annex.

“They could have put a third story on it (the new jail),”’ said Commissioner Margaret DeVault, who is chairman of the jail-courthouse committee. ‘‘At that time the new courthouse was also being planned, and the courthouse was needed so desperately the commission didn’t think it could do both. We (the jail committee) wished we could have put the third story on. It wasn’t because we didn’t want to do it,’’ she said.

Commissioner Raymond Morrell, who headed the jail committee in 1985, said at the time the commission was planning for the jail it thought it was allowing room for seven to 10 years’ growth.

“The population that is being held is much larger than anticipated,”’ he said, both because of the high number of state prisoners and the growing number of DUI offenders.

But with the annex and the capability to add a third floor to the jail, Morrell said he believes the county is in ‘‘good shape for a long time.”

The issue concerning Sheriff Mike Gardner, however, is not the total number of prisoners, but the high number of state prisoners held there and the puny board payments the state gives counties holding those prisoners.

To make matters worse, the Tennessee General Assembly is considering lowering those payments further, and perhaps capping them.

Currently, counties with certified jails receive $15 a day for each pre-trial detainee, and the state is considering dropping that payment to $8 a day. But Gardner said the state figures holding a prisoner actually costs between $58 and $63 a day.

Sullivan County receives $25 a day for each prisoner awaiting transport to the already full state prisons.

In October, Sullivan County billed the state $66,354 for the prisoners is was boarding; in November the bill was $67,890; and the latest bill, in December, was for $75,224, Grimes said.

A resolution will be presented during the county commission’s Monday meeting that asks the commission to transfer $130,000 from Gardner’s personnel account to cover operating expenses, which have been higher than expected.

Grimes said most of the money will go for food and for the fuel bill, which has been running about $8,000 a month.

Grimes said he estimated the fuel bill at about $2,500.

Gardner’s original budget for this year included another $100,000 for utilities, but it was removed during the budget trimming process.