County officials to discuss jail plans

Whitley County officials are still trying to figure out exactly how they are going to deal with the closure of the jail.
“We don’t have a definite game plan from here,” Judge-Executive Mike Patrick said Monday afternoon. “Right now it is just trying to get by one day at a time, get those new arrests taken care of, and get ourselves in a position to be able to handle that. We can’t afford for the building to sit empty. How we bring that about is what we are looking at. Corrections is here trying to give us a little help and guidance.”
Patrick scheduled a special called fiscal court meeting for 10 a.m. Wednesday. On the agenda is a discussion of the jail closure, and specifically developing a transportation plan, and considering other future plans for the facility.
One thing, which might be discussed, is converting the facility into a regional jail, which has been discussed by himself and Knox County Judge-Executive Raymond Smith in the past.
Patrick cautions that fiscal court in neither county have discussed the matter, and he doesn’t know if there is enough support by either fiscal court for making the facility a regional jail.
He added that housing prisoners in the jails of other counties is only a short term solution.
“It is not a good long term solution to the problem. We need to have a facility here in the county. Basically, I think the commissioner of corrections has stated that it will not be re-opened under current management, so we will have to find a way to bring that about,” Patrick said.

Solution needed soon
During hearings over the budget last month, Whitley County Treasure Jeff Gray estimated that it would cost the county nearly $800,000 in additional revenue each year to house 75 prisoners in other counties if the jail was forced to shut down.
Patrick said that there have been fewer prisoners to be housed elsewhere than he first feared, so the budget situation may not be as grim as first thought.
State officials have said that if the jail is closed, Whitley County wouldn’t be able to balance its budget, even with the payroll tax in place.
Patrick said this probably holds true if the jail is shutdown for a long period of time.
“I don’t foresee a need right now to panic on the first day after,” Patrick said Monday. “We can’t let it go long before we have to react, but we can manage for a few days, or a week or two here before we get to a total critical time. We can’t go a long period of time without some hope for relief. We need to have something done, and in place, and operating within a month. We don’t have to have it in place by tomorrow.”
The fiscal court currently is employing security guards at the facility to make sure the jail building doesn’t get vandalized.
“We don’t want to just leave it to chance,” he added.

Taylor still being paid
Patrick said Jailer Jerry Taylor will still be drawing his salary as jailer even though the jail is closed. What if anything he has to do to earn that salary hadn’t been determined as of Monday afternoon.
“We are trying to put together that plan as we speak,” Patrick said. “I don’t really know the answer to that right now. He may be a transportation officer, or a bailiff in the court. I just don’t know what his capacity will be. We would hope he will be doing something.”
He said the fiscal court hasn’t discussed asking Taylor to resign, but he concedes that is something that might be considered along with the pursuit of malfeasance of office charges.
“I think anything is of potential consideration right now,” Patrick said. “I think definitely we need to be looking at malfeasance, but that is a process in itself. I don’t know that anything can happen fast.”
Currently all other jail employees have been laid off for an indefinite period of time. Some might possibly be brought back to work as transportation officers, but that would be decided by the fiscal court, Patrick noted.
Jail Administrator Forrest Sexton submitted his resignation Friday.

Where they went
Patrick said he has received a list of prisoners transferred from the jail, but that he isn’t sure which prisoners are Knox County inmates, and which are Whitley County inmates.
He estimates that Whitley County will have between 50 and 60 inmates that it has to pay another county to incarcerate. Patrick estimates that it will cost the county between $28 and $30 per inmate each day.
District Judge Cathy Prewitt said she was contacted late Friday evening, and agreed to release some inmates on home incarceration.
“Some of the inmates, who were in just on old fines, I gave them a new court date. We got the ones out that we could get out,” she added.
County Attorney Paul Winchester estimated that nearly 20 prisoners were released prior to the jail’s closure Saturday.

Where they’re going
Prisoners arrested after the jail closed Saturday are being taken to either Bell County, if there is room at that facility, or Clay County.
Patrick said county officials are also trying to find a third county where newly arrested people can be transported.
“They don’t have unlimited space and stuff, so we will also be working to take them at some point and time from those locations to others,” Patrick noted.
The sheriff’s department will primarily be transporting the bulk of the prisoners to and from the various detention centers.
“All other law enforcement agencies have helped us with the movement of new inmates, and we appreciate that. We are in for a hard few days, but then hopefully we will have a system in place,” Patrick said.
County officials haven’t determined exactly how much it is going to cost them in terms of transportation costs, such as fuel, maintenance, and paying the salary of officers, who might have to work overtime to transport prisoners.
Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison said his officers would be transporting their own prisoners to either the Bell County or Clay County Jail.
Williamsburg officers made their first trip to Clay County Sunday, after Bell County said they couldn’t accept the prisoner.
Harrison estimates that it will probably take about a three hour round trip just in driving time to get to Clay County in addition to about $30 worth of gas.
Given the time it takes an officer to book someone into the facility, Harrison estimates that it may tie up his officers for half of their shifts just to transport and book someone into the jail at Clay County.
“You are looking at maybe $100 per trip that can add up really, really quick,” Harrison noted.
He said there are no plans for officers to arrest fewer people though because of the jail situation.

Impact on district court
Prewitt said the jail’s closure has and will definitely effect district court. For instance, no prisoners were transported to court Monday afternoon because officials are still trying to work out the details for how to get them all here.
“I did receive a list this morning that shows where the inmates were initially sent, and they are pretty scattered in various places,” Prewitt said Monday afternoon. “I did get some good news this morning from the Administrative Office of the Courts.
“Apparently, they are going to speed up the rest of the installation of the video arraignment lines, so if an inmate is sent to a facility, which has a comparable video arraignment available, we will be able to do a lot by video, and that will save on transportation.”
The district courtroom in Corbin is already wired for video arraignments.
The Clay County Detention Center is already set up for video arraignments, and the state was considering installation of a video arraignment system at the Bell County Detention Center, Patrick added.
Prewitt said she would obviously be looking at some alternative forms of sentencing rather that sending certain defendants to jail as punishment, such as home incarceration.
“Community service is always an option for lessor offenses. There are some alternatives out there, and we are obviously going to be taking a closer look at them now than we ever did before, and try to save the county some money,” she noted.