Grand Jury: Sullivan County Needs New Jail
Sullivan County needs a new jail, a grand jury reported after visiting the facility and finding crowded cells, cramped offices and an air-conditioning system that was not working.
“As past grand juries have reported, the need for a new Sullivan County jail is blatantly obvious,” the panel said in the report, made public record Thursday at the end of the grand jurors’ six months of service.
The grand jury toured the 10-year-old jail June 26 and was told by officers, according to the report, that the air conditioning had been out for days and would not be fixed for a week or longer due to a lack of funding.
But the panel interceded, it said. Grand jury foreman Arthur Salyer contacted County Commissioner Eddie Williams and found that emergency funds could be used to fix the system.
“We strongly suggest that routine service on the air conditioning be upgraded to prevent such an outage in the future,” the grand jurors said.
“One officer reported to us that the inmates were becoming irritable (due to the heat), and there was concern for how their behavior could deteriorate during this time.”
A previous grand jury reported crowded conditions, cracked walls and an inoperable fire-alarm system. It said inmates were sleeping on the floor on mattresses because not enough beds were available. Six months later, another panel said the jail remained crowded but that repairs had been made.
The report Thursday said the jail needs more office space, more computerization and more cells for inmates of both genders.
Despite its problems, the grand jury said it found the facility to be in “good order and clean,” said its personnel “were courteous and helpful” and commented that an inmate gardening program aimed at growing food for meals had saved the county between $25,000 and $30,000 last year.
