Sullivan County Jail Crowded to More than Double Its Capacity
Building Intended to Accommodate 20 Prisoners Now Housing 53.
Sheriff Barger to Ask for More Room
Will Request County Court to Build Additional Cells in Present Structure.
Declaring that the Sullivan County jail is housing 53 prisoners while it was built to accommodate only 20, Sheriff George S. Barger yesterday announced that he will at the next term of the County Court, in October, ask the magistrates to either build additional cells in the building or provide money for a guard to watch it night and day.
“The 53 prisoners in the jail building now crowd it to more than twice its capacity.” said Sheriff Barger. “It was built to accommodate only 20 prisoners and has only 3 cells in it, one of which cells is a large one and where most of the men are being confined. The condition created by this crowding of that many men together is not only unhealthful for them but dangerous for the county because there is not room enough for them in the three cells in the building. There are two other cells also, an insane ward and a hospital ward, but it is not safe to keep active prisoners in them. By the building of two or three more large cells in the present building accommodations could be made for as many as 60 prisoners without making an enlargement of the building. I shall ask the County Court to do this at the next meeting or else provide guards to watch the jail night and day to prevent the convicts from escaping.”
The number of prisoners now in the county jail is the largest the county ever had, said Sheriff Barger.
“Nearly two-thirds of these men were arrested in Kingsport,” he said. “The rapid growth of that city attracted many people with criminal instincts and it has, naturally, been the scene of more arrests than the rest of the county.”
