A Badly Overcrowded Jail
It seems that conditions at the Sullivan County Jail at Blountville do not improve. There still are close to 60 prisoners confined in that institution, which was built to accommodate twenty-five prisoners. The capacity of the jail is more than doubly taxed, and what is worse, the sanitary conditions are said to be very bad. Overcrowding an insanitary prison is not a modern idea.
And there is no prospect of early release from the congestion except by the liberation of prisoners. The County Court finally decided some time ago to enlarge the jail, and the contract for an addition was let, but the latest report from the contractors is no more definite than that construction work will start some time in the future. The recent term of the Circuit Court resulted in the release of but few prisoners, leaving fifty-seven still in jail. It is not said that unless fewer prisoners are consigned to the jail in the next month, it will be necessary to hold a special term of court, thus entailing extra cost upon the county.
Perhaps most of the prisoners confined at Blountville are guilty of more or less serious offenses and must be punished according to the law. But it is also probable that many of them are held for offenses of a trivial nature, such as vagrancy and “hoboing.” It would help the situation materially if these prisoners were turned loose with the admonition to move on out of the county.
