Mobley hoping to reopen Whitley Co. Jail on Nov. 1

With any luck, the Whitley County Jail will be back up and running around Nov. 1.
Jailer Ken Mobley told the fiscal court Tuesday morning that he hopes to have the facility open again sometime around that date, and added that it could be a few days sooner or later depending on how tests go this week on the fire detection and suppression systems at the jail.
“It may come two or three days before that. It may come two or three after, but I’d say optimistically that we should be open by the first of November,” Mobley said.
After all the testing is complete, Mobley said Department of Corrections inspectors will do a walk through tour of the facility, and give county officials a list of things that still need to be fixed.
He said correction’s officials have already been up to the jail several times, and have said things are looking good.
When prisoners move back into the new jail, they can expect a few changes, such as no smoking allowed in the building and no coffee pots in their cells.
“They will see professionalism, and they will see a cleaner jail. They will see a more efficient jail, and maybe a few other changes,” he noted. “It will be a non-smoking facility.”
Mobley said that keeping the facility smoke free should go a long way toward keeping the facility clean.
“We have cleaned for two weeks, and you can still see smoke damage. I’ve had estimates that it will extend the life of the heating and air units by as many as ten years,” he said. “The main thing is we have cleaned and cleaned and cleaned, and no longer than this jail has been open, you can still see the remnants of smoke. We’ll give them their coffee.”
Mobley, who is a smoker himself, said the decision was a tough call.
He said there are several issues yet that haven’t been decided, such as whether there will be lights out at a certain given time each night.
Mobley said he plans to discuss this and several other issues with his staff, once they are hired, prior to opening the facility.
Mobley said that he won’t know for certain, but thinks he can operate the jail within the county’s budget, and possibly a little under that.
Two areas of potential savings Mobley sees deal with food costs, and personnel costs.
“We won’t know until we get up and running,” he said.
So far Mobley has hired about eight employees, including some former employees. He said interviews are continuing on a daily basis with more than eight interviews done Monday morning.
Earlier this year, the fiscal court capped the number of employees at the jail at the equivalent of 32 full-time employees.
Mobley said he thinks that number of employees should be enough, and that he might be able to do it with a few less employees.
“I think we will be equal to, or a little under it,” he noted.
Department of Corrections officials met with Mobley and some of his staff members last week to conduct necessary training.
Once the staff is hired, Mobley said correction’s officials will come down and conduct further on the job training.
“It is up to them. They may come down and train two or three days, or they may want to stay a week. We will work with them. Whatever they want to do. I am looking at probably a week of on the job training to make sure it is up and running like the way they want it up and running,” he noted.
Mobley said having the jail set up to conduct video arraignments in district court will be a big savings to the jail, and that he plans to contact the Administrative Office of the Courts this week about getting the machines in place, and the arraignment system up and running.
Whitley County Judge-Executive Mike Patrick said that once Mobley gets all his staff hired, he anticipates calling a special fiscal court meeting for later this week to approve all the hirings and pay rates.
During Tuesday’s monthly fiscal court meeting, magistrates approved a $50,000 public official bond for Mobley, and set his pay rate at $57,489, which is the statutory maximum for a non-full service jail.
Patrick said that once the facility is certified to re-open as a full service jail by corrections, then Mobley’s salary would be raised to $69,465 annually.

Facility’s condition
Mobley said when he took over and first entered the facility, it was dirty in some areas.
“We have cleaned on it for two weeks. The overall condition of it is pretty good. We had some things we thought were going to be major that turned out to be minor, but cleaning the facility has been the main thing,” he noted. “We had some inmates housed in Clay County that came down and worked a few days.
“Right now some of the people I hired are cleaning. We had to do a bunch of laundry. We cleaned all the kitchen equipment. We are moving right along.”
When the jail opens again, Mobley is expecting to house about 100 Whitley County inmates. He’s not sure yet if the jail will be housing Knox County prisoners.
“That’s one thing we will have to work out,” he added.
He said several jailers from across the state have called up offering their assistance.
“I have already called upon one for a little advice,” Mobley said. “They have really bent over backwards to help us. The president of the jailer’s association has been real helpful, and we have had calls from jailers in Bullitt County, Hardin County, and Woodford County among others.
“In the law enforcement community everybody helps everybody. I was really surprised the way the jailers have opened up and offered up their assistance to help. I have been told I can call them at two and three o’clock in the morning, and I might call some then.”
The Whitley County Jail first opened in August 2004, but was closed down on July 23, 2005, after Corrections Department Commissioner John D. Rees obtained an order in Franklin Circuit Court upholding his decision to close the facility for numerous reasons.
After Whitley County Jailer Jerry Taylor resigned on Sept. 30, Rees said he would be happy to work with the county to get the facility back open again.