GTU coverage: "Camden balks at adding onto crowded jail."

http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2009-10-08/story/camden_balks_at_adding_onto_crowded_jail Now, it turns out that I got a call early this morning on this very subject (and a few other things) from Sheriff Gregory. We talked for about 30 minutes. {Side note: I just happened to look out my front window just now to see what was setting off my dog, who was also looking out the window. It was Mayor Eskridge driving by in his green pickup truck, repleat with campaign sign, slowed way down to eyeball the 3 political yard signs I have in my front yard!} There is no way I will remember all of the torrent of info he gave me, but here, I hope, are the most important parts. The current jail - which the then residents of Woodbine were all for having built right where it is - was built in '86/'87 with a capacity of 120 beds. The day it opened, 96 beds were full. The county population then was 20,000. Now, it is well over 50,000; we still have a 120 bed jail; and the jail today is housing 230 inmates, with many sleeping in the hallways on mattresses on the floor. In the current SPLOST, $3,000,000 was earmarked for jail renovations and repairs. One major repair item was all of the leaking copper water pipes encased in the thick concrete walls which needed ripping out and repairing. The estimate from a professional firm was $1.2 million. The county engineer did some research and found a better way: injecting a liquid polymer into the pipes which sealed the leaks and essentially, formed a PVC pipes system within the old copper pipes. The cost was a shade over $200,000, saving nearly $1 million. The sheriff is asking for $1.4 million for an 120 bed add-on metal building behind the existing jail to house low risk, non-violent offenders (i.e., 3rd time DUI offender who can't make bail.) Given the savings of nearly $1 million on the water pipe repairs and the balance of the $3 million originally allocated, the money is already there, he is not asking for new money from the general fund. This is all SPLOST money that's in the bank. So, you may ask, as did the commissioners, why not just wait until we can add that money to the money from the next SPLOST and build a brand new, $30 million dollar jail? Here's why. The next SPLOST will not be voted on until 2013. By the time you actually collected enough new SPLOST money to break ground on the new jail, it would be a good seven years from now before the new jail was completed. The jail population continues to grow. The chances that one or more inmates will not successfully sue the sheriff for violating minimum federal standards for housing inmates between now and then - in fact, way before then - are slim and none. When a judge rules in their favor - which would probably happen today - if a judge were hearing a complaint based upon CURRENT overcrowding, one of two things would happen. The judge could order that enough inmates be shipped out to nearby counties with excess capacity (Charlton just built a new, 350 bed facility) to lower the population in Camden to acceptable levels, or, close the Camden jail down altogether and order all inmates shipped out until a new Camden jail is completed. The current cost for room and board per "imported" inmate in Charlton is $45.00 per day. But that is just the tip of the cost iceberg. If they have a court date or their lawyer wants to meet with them in Woodbine, you have to send a CCSO deputy over to Folkston to retrieve them. I think I've hit all of the sheriff's major points. Oh, he also pointed out that the space he wants to build could easily be reconfigured internally to whatever use the county might want to put it to - along with the rest of the old jail - with perhaps a new facade, after the new jail is completed. I must say that I agree with him that kicking this can down the road until 2013 and beyond is not a viable option. Given that, and given that the SPLOST funds for his proposed solution are already in the bank, I think that it is time for the commissioners - including the ones up for reelection next year - step up to the plate and do the right thing, which in this case appears to be what the sheriff is proposing.