Jail Number has Reached ‘Critical’ Mass

Sullivan County’s jail has a capacity of 317 inmates, but on July 19 it reached an all-time high population of 507 — including 56 female inmates housed in a space designed for 20.“

“Five-hundred seven inmates is critical,” said Sullivan County Sheriff Keith Carr, who was on the telephone Monday with Tennessee correction officials.

He was trying to get them to take some of the 113 state prisoners found in Monday’s afternoon jail population of 470. Those 113 have been convicted, sentenced and ordered into incarceration by the judicial system, yet they remain in the county jail.

“Five-hundred and seven is the most we’ve ever had. That is the most that’s ever been in the Sullivan County jail,” Carr said Monday afternoon.

“We’ve had quite a number of prisoners,” Carr said. “We just can’t get them into the state prisons. We’re totally at the mercy of the Tennessee state prison system.”

Carr said the state took three state prisoners from the local jail in June and six so far in July.

Pam Gehman, public information officer for the Department of Correction, said all 95 counties have fluctuations in jail populations but that the state tries to work with the counties, with those that are under federal court orders to reduce overcrowding getting top priority.

“It goes up and down,” Gehman said Monday evening, adding that state prisoners who are locally sentenced to less than three years generally stay in a county jail instead of a state prison.

“We try to make every effort when there is a situation with a local jail,” Gehman said. “We’re trying to do the best we can.”

In the fall, Gehman said, a 1,500-bed medium security state prison will open in Lauderdale County, and she said plans are being drawn up to expand the women’s prison that by 2000 is to have an estimated 1,000 inmates.

The county has no contract to keep state inmates, but cannot turn them away. Carr said the state pays the county about $30 per day to house each state inmate, but he said that does not cover the true cost of an inmate, particularly one with medical problems or medication needs.

Carr said the increased numbers of inmates increase food costs, medical costs and water and sewer bills at the jail. But he said the most troublesome and immediate aspect of the overcrowding is the potential for festering tempers among inmates and the staff.

“This jail obviously isn’t big enough and the state system is not taking care of it,” Carr said.

But even with all state prisoners moved out, the jail increasingly would go beyond its rated capacity with just local prisoners. The worst problem is with female inmates, which the county’s Building Committee wants to address with additional space in the first part of a multi-step expansion.

On Monday afternoon, the jail had 46 female inmates in the space designed for 20. Providing more space for female inmates and separating females charged with misdemeanors from those charged with felonies is the county’s top jail priority.

Carr complimented the Building Committee for looking ahead and not waiting until the federal courts intervened and make the county expand the jail. Also, County Executive Gil Hodges wrote a letter to Commissioner of Correction Donal Campbell asking the state to take its prisoners.

“I wrote a letter to the commissioner,” Hodges said. “If he (Carr) doesn’t get any response, I’ll be glad to call the commissioner.”

County Commissioner Ralph Harr of Bristol, who serves on the Building Committee, said he believes the county eventually will build the entire jail expansion, estimated to cost $13 million. But Harr said the county probably will initially build one “pod” expansion to the jail because it faces a proposed $40 million school construction plan and has to prioritize its construction dollars.

We’ll build one pod from the old jail down to take care of the female prisoners,” Harr said. “They’ll build the whole jail eventually, but with all the school work we face, it may be slower than we’d like”

Carr said county officials are simply being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money.

“The county commission and county executive have been really good in trying to help us to get people out of here,” Carr. said. “The county executive, having been in law enforcement, he understands the predicament we’re in.

Carr said that aside from jail expansions, long-term answers should include preventive programs that get at the root of criminal behavior — such as providing drug treatment for someone who has been burglarizing houses to support a drug habit. He said alternative sentencing for nonviolent crimes that are not against people could include such preventative programs.

“You can’t ignore violations of the law because the jail’s crowded,” Carr said. “As long as you have men on earth, you’re going to have sin on earth. As long as you have sin on earth, you’re going to have men and women in the Sullivan County jail.”