Letter
To The
Editor
Paying For Jail Time
I have been a resident of Greenwood County for fifteen years. I want to address the recent talk I have heard of building a new jail in the city/county.
My hometown is Garnett, in Anderson County. They too wanted a new jail several years ago in anticipation of renting out the space to larger counties and potentially to the federal system. The proposal indicated that the housing of out of county prisoners would in time pay for itself. The local farmers and ranchers voted it down four times.
Eventually, the county determined that they had an excess of dollars in the budget and earmarked it for the jail. By the time the jail was actually built, the bill was approximately six million to add the access to the courthouse from the jail. The construction was very poor, the roof leaked, the windows and doors did not shut properly, the plumbing did not work, and the heating and air conditioning system had to be completely torn out and replaced shortly after it opened.
I simply would like to know what the actual cost of building a jail will be: 1. Purchase of land, loss of tax dollars if donated by taxpayer.
2. Construction of building.
3. Transport to/from court; medical appointments, etc. 4. Payroll for additional staffing for guards, transport, food preparation, etc.
5. Cost of food, laundry, medication, nurses, hygiene items, etc.
6. Monthly utilities, water, sewer, trash, electric, gas Versus: 1. Daily income per inmate from other counties / federal government 2. Contracts with these counties and/or federal government 3. Guarantees of number of spaces per contract per county/federal system 4. Penalty provisions for failure to utilize the facil-ity as contracted Basically, is there any realistic plan and any agreement with any other county agency or federal agency to provide inmates to be housed; real estimate of building costs and operational expenses sufficient to justify the initial expenditure.
There have been issues of housing in the Eureka area since the last few tornadoes and the tear down efforts of the city and issues of finding qualified individuals willing to work for the current rates of county wages. Wilson County has had a great problem keeping their jail staffed, how is Greenwood County any different? Ronald J. Mayes
