Taylor asks judge to reverse jail closure

A Franklin Circuit Court judge will wait 30 days before ruling on a motion to remove a restraining order that forced closure of the Whitley County jail in late July.
Tuesday, Judge William E. Graham said he would like Whitley County Jailer Jerry Taylor to come up with a “game plan” to bring the Whitley County Jail in compliance with Department of Correction regulations. With a workable plan in place, Graham said it could pave the way for a meeting with the Department of Corrections concerning the future of the Whitley County Jail.
“I shouldn’t have to sit here and tell you to work it out,” Graham said.
Taylor, along with his attorneys Tom Hectus and Randy Perkins, met with Graham and two attorneys representing the department for approximately an hour Tuesday. Taylor hoped to have a restraining order against him lifted.
But Graham delayed the motion for 30 days in hopes something could be worked out between Corrections officials and Taylor that would ultimately lead to the jail reopening.
Taylor contends he hasn’t gotten an opportunity to prove to Correction’s officials that many of the allegations against the jail, such as lax security and male and female inmates intermingling, are false.
Following a public meeting in May, Taylor’s attorneys contend the department said it would hold off on the closure move if Taylor could make progress in bringing the jail within state regulations. In Tuesday’s motion, Taylor said he wasn’t given a chance to present his side of the case before the state moved to shut the doors.
“That is sort of an amorphous concept – making progress,” Hectus said.
Because the jail was closed before he could show that improvements had been made, Taylor said he was denied due process.
Graham said a jail, shut down less than a year after it was built, is an “egregious situation” but declined to consider the merits of the closure order.
“If (Department of Corrections Commissioner John D. Rees) wants it closed, it’s closed,” Graham said.
Jeff Middendorf, an attorney for the Department of Corrections, said an experienced jail consultant, Forest Sexton, was hired by the county’s fiscal court, but his recommendations were ignored.
Graham said Taylor would do well to have followed Sexton’s advice.
“You’re not the boss any more,” Graham told Taylor. “When the consultant gets there, you should be on the courthouse steps with welcoming arms.”
Because of the cost of the new facility and the debt the county has incurred, Graham said he would like to see the jail reopened if it is properly operated under state regulations.
“It’s not doing anyone any good just sitting there,” Graham said.
Graham said he hoped the Department of Corrections would grant Taylor a hearing in the near future.
Graham also said he was “flabbergasted” that no one representing the Whitley County Fiscal Court attended Tuesday’s hearing.