Construction Begins
New Facility will be capable of housing 240 inmates and hopefully solve jail’s overcrowding problem
The inmates who slept on floor mats at the Sullivan County jail last night may be sleeping in beds one year from today.
Construction began Monday on an addition to the overcrowded facility. BurWil Construction of Bristol will complete the 30,000-square-foot building within 360 days, said Claude Smith, the county ’s construction manager. “I don’t believe it’ll take that long,” he said.
The building will be 386 feet long and 93 feet wide, and will hold four large bays and one smaller bay to house 240 minimum-to medium-security inmates.
Overcrowding has been a problem at the jail for years, according to Maj. Brenda Hensley, jail supervisor. The jail opened in 1987 and was expanded in 2000. There are 383 beds, but the lockup held 618 inmates Monday and 644 last week, Hensley said.
She said she is glad county officials have taken action.
“They were proactive enough to know that we were having a problem, to know that we were going to have a worse problem,” she said.
Overcrowding causes problems among inmates and could eventually result in lawsuits, she said.
“There’s a lot of agitation, fights, fussing and that’s harder on our officers … writing incident reports, having to do disciplinary board hearings. So it’s just more work for everyone.”
The Sullivan County Commission issued a $6 million bond last year to pay for the expansion, a new Health Department building and repairs to Sullivan County schools. About $3.1 million of that total was set aside for the jail addition.
In January, bids on the expanded facility came in at $3.7 million. The project cost was reduced to $3.4 million when some improvements, including exterior fencing and a car wash, were removed and some of the building materials were changed.
In February, the Sullivan County Commission allocated an extra $430,000 for the project. The new price tag includes excavation work already completed, Smith said, along with kitchen furniture and the building itself.
But even with the addition, Hensley said overcrowding will continue at the jail and there are no plans to accommodate any more inmates.
Still, she is happy just to get a few more inmates off the floors.
“We’re tickled to death,” she said. “I wish I was (already) cutting the ribbon.”
