ERWIN — Last week, a state jail inspector paid a visit to Unicoi County.
His inspection of the Unicoi County Jail in downtown Erwin found that the facility is in compliance. The Jail Annex facility also passed inspection.
However, Unicoi County Sheriff Mike Hensley said the inspector advised the county must soon look at replacing its downtown jail.
“In the next few years, we’re going to be looking at the expense of building a new jail,” Hensley said.
Hensley said this is due to the jail simply “outliving its expectancy.” Hensley said he was told by the jail inspector that jails have an operational expectancy of approximately 20 years. The Unicoi County Jail was constructed in the mid-1970s.
The sheriff said he must form a committee, made up of county commissioners and representatives from the County Technical Advisory Service and the Tennessee Corrections Institute, before next year’s inspection. Hensley said this committee will be responsible for providing ideas and suggestions. The inspector has also offered to provide the Unicoi County Commission with specifications on the new facility, Hensley said.
“This is nothing that’s going to be done next year or possibly for the next two years,” Hensley said of the new jail’s construction. “It’s somewhere down the road, but we do have to have this committee formed by next year.”
Hensley said Unicoi County is held to the same mandates as larger counties with stronger tax bases. He said he understands that funding the construction of a new jail may be difficult due to costs the county faces and the fact more than half of Unicoi County is federally owned.
“I’m very familiar with the crisis this county is in as far as financials,” Hensley said. “We’re still paying on the new high school. We’ve built a new middle school, a bus garage, and we’ve got things that we’re having to pay for. Our tax base is very small here. I’m very familiar, but this is not my call. This is their call. And I would hope the citizens understand it’s not me saying ‘I need a new jail.’ ”
But Hensley said he intends to alleviate as much of the financial burden as possible by seeking funding through grants and working with organizations, such as the Tennessee Sheriffs’ Association.
“There’s no doubt it’s coming to our county, and I’m going to try to use every resource I can to help offset the cost of that,” he said.
Some cost-savings options are already present, Hensley said. He said there is space for expansion at the Jail Annex property.
“Right now, there’s no doubt that down the road, and I’m not putting a time frame on it because I can’t right now, but I know down the road in the next few years we’re going to be looking at building a new jail or maybe possibly building another facility out here at the annex. There’s a lot of avenues they’ll just have to look at and what they’ll allow us to do.”
shawnbo writes:
November 23, 2012
8:59 AM
I would urge Unicoi County to build new and better schools instead of a new jail. In the long run, education reduces the need for incarceration.
Remove Money from Politics writes:
November 23, 2012
9:32 AM
I don't think it's their call. When the state tells a county they have to build a new jail to be in compliance, there's little they can do to get out of that.
If the federal and state governments abolished the stupid laws against marijuana, we would not need to build new jails for a long time. A huge chunk of incarcerated persons are those who were put in jail on a simple possession of marijuana charge.
jcresident writes:
November 23, 2012
9:41 AM
shawnbo, that is a nice cushy blanket statement. But this is not an overcrowding issue, we have less people in jails across the country than we did a decade ago, and the crime rate is down significantly. But unless you have 0 inmates, you need a facility to hold them, and the state has accreditation standards for these facilities that need to be upheld. You can lose accreditation, but that makes your county open to many more lawsuits from inmates. The county has built new schools, they also need a new jail.
Amare Delectare writes:
November 23, 2012
12:09 PM
If an inmate pinches his or her finger while lifting weights, or if an electrical shock is received while adjusting a television set, or if a law book falls on the inmate's foot, a huge lawsuit can be advanced. The court considers these types of events as "generally negligent" on behalf of the penal system administration.
If the building no longer reaches standards set by new technologies being incorporated into the laws, then, hey, Gubmint will shut 'em down.
The fact is, that lobbyists for corporations have a tremendous amount of pull and persuasion in government so that manufacturer's technological inventions are incorporated into law. If an institution no longer is up to date with new pressures from private corporations, it is simply put on the chopping block and Joe and Jill taxpayer are demanded to pony up the monies needed.
Democracy at work. lol.
Amare Delectare writes:
November 23, 2012
12:10 PM
In other words, while middle and lower classes of people sink farther into poverty and genuine misery, the government operates for the benefit of special interests.
love-it writes:
November 23, 2012
4:46 PM
What about the fact that there was just a jail annex that the inspector said the county needed when the ex- sheriff was in office and that was what? Last year it opened.....so I would say if the inspector recommends we need a NEW jail.....they can pay for it......the taxpayers are paying enough already....Its everytime the taxpayers turn around its more,more,more.....why not just move everything to the jail annex?? There problem solved would be no more flooding and leaking roofs at the current jail....I mean after all the inmates live better than some people in unicoi county do....they even get Mayfield Milk..... being in jail top of the line products used to feed inmates....when citizens have to buy off brand(cheap)milk and inmates have mayfield.....lets just give them a day at the spa while were at it and when you build that new jail....put them ahot tub and a pool in
elliemae59 writes:
November 24, 2012
4:53 PM
Wonder if they can just build onto the new annex, make it a two story, put maximum secuirty inmates upstairs, and the new 991 center there also, the land is already bought, no need in buying more land when they can use what they have, hum just wondering if that is possible, use the old jail for a substation or fire station, or teen hangout.
elliemae59 writes:
November 24, 2012
4:53 PM
911 sorry for the typo
elliemae59 writes:
November 24, 2012
4:58 PM
or use the property behind the courthouse that burnt down
love-it writes:
November 24, 2012
10:22 PM
behind the courthouse.....not gonna happen.....they just put in the new parking lot in
provided.