While the issue of overcrowding at the DeKalb County Jail is far from being something new to the DeKalb County Commission, the proposed solution of building a new jail seems to be no closer to reality than it was last summer.
The county had voted on building a proposed justice center to replace the jail and add more room for courtroom space, but the proposed funding needed for the project became a hotbed for local voters. A proposed bond resolution was defeated by a county referendum, after voters said “No” to up to $65 million in bonds to fund the proposal, as well as a $50 wheel tax that would have been used to offset a 51-cent property tax hike, implemented to fund the project.
That sent the county commission back to the drawing board, later voting to explore building a jail only to solve the issue. The new problem? Where to build it.
On February 25, members of the DeKalb County Jail Committee and the County Mayor, met with Bob Bass, former Deputy Director of the Tennessee Corrections Institute, who now serves as a county correction partnership consultant. During the meeting, Bass said he and Committee Chairman Larry Green and County Mayor Matt Adcock toured three sites around town that might be possible locations for a new jail.
According to Bass, the Peggy Hayes property, an undeveloped green site, located near Walmart would be the best choice. Others the group surveyed were on Bright Hill Road, owned by Joe Rice, and the Steve Colvert family property on Smith Road.
“One site jumped out at me, but let me do a disclaimer here. The Tennessee Corrections Institute, nor any agency in the state of Tennessee to my knowledge, can tell a county commission where they are going to put a jail. You can use my expertise, and I can give you, my opinion. I will always pose questions about if it is good for the project, but I will not tell you where you are going to put the jail,” said Bass.
“In this case the Hayes property checked all the boxes. The entire piece of property I think would be a good choice for the county in that it’s big enough for a one-story facility. It would accommodate parking, an exercise area, expansion and has availability of water, sewer and three phase electricity etc. It checks all the boxes without a negative spot anywhere,” said Bass.
Mayor Adcock said the county once had the 38-acre Hayes property appraised at $1,485,000. “Preliminarily we discussed about eight months to a year ago offering her $2 million for all of it and she rejected that offer,” he said.
Historically, several area residents have expressed opposition to locating the jail on the Hayes property, with many asking why the facility at its current location could not be extended.
Bass did not recommend it, saying, “We have talked about this a lot and you have heard from Bell Construction, the architects and from our standpoint. If you start any construction on the facilities you have now you will have to submit those plans, and you’ll have to bring the building you have up to codes,” said Bass.
“Currently your building does not meet codes. You would have to spend a lot of money just to get that facility to meet codes and you would probably not net any beds out of it. In fact, you would probably lose beds going from 51 now to around 30 beds. I just don’t see it and its going to be more expensive to build.”
“As you heard from Rick Bruin of Bell Construction, it was like $4.5 million to $5 million more to try doing something with that site. I haven’t been happy with that site all along,” said Bass.
“I just don’t think it’s there and I don’t think you are going to be able to get future growth out of it. When you build these jails, you have to think about the future. You need to select a site that has availability to grow because it is going to grow. I wish crime would stop. but we know it’s not going to,” Bass continued.
“And even if the county could acquire an empty lot next to the jail, it’s going to box you in and you are not going to have room to grow. Depending on how many beds you wanted I suspect that would be a stacked jail. That means more staff. If you build multi levels that’s staff on the first floor, staff on the second floor, third, and fourth floors. It’s really staff intensive.”
“You’d build a radius design with a central control where you can look out and see all the inmates. It’s not a linear jail but it’s laid out linear. You would have a mezzanine. It’s a second story, but its inside with a staircase going up to it. I don’t see that downtown.”
“Not to mention it’s going to tie up traffic downtown. You’ll have to shut down a street. You don’t have a layout yard and the backside of that property slopes off so I don’t know how much of it you could actually use. I think you need to be looking at property that you can take care of in the future,” explained Bass.
Committee members also discussed property on Allen’s Ferry Road, behind Bizzy Mart, with the biggest drawback they said being that the property is not currently in the city limits and not served by sewer. The Smithville mayor and aldermen have said they would not consider annexing this site for a jail, but as opposed to a justice center, a jail does not have to be located within the city limits of a county seat, and other buildings, such as the DeKalb West School, are not connected to a sewer system.
The Smithville Elementary School property was also discussed, but the school board still owns the property where SES is currently in operation. The new school will not be completed for possibly four years.
Committee member Tom Chandler made a motion that the real estate agent for the Hayes property be contacted to inquire about an updated price for the entire 38-acre site or at least an 18-acre section with an easement to Highway 70. Although the vote on Chandler’s motion was 7 to 6 in favor it failed to get the eight votes needed for passage.
Whatever the commission decides to do, the cost to DeKalb taxpayers is mounting after Sheriff Patrick Ray updated the commission on his jail budget. With the jail’s certified bed compacity cut from 102 to 52 beds, for the past 19 months the Sheriff’s Department has been forced to find housing for some prisoners outside the county, at a considerable cost to taxpayers.
According to Sheriff Ray the county is already over budget in the line items for inmate housing and medical/dental costs, in expenditures from July 1, 2024 to February 25, 2025. With four months left in the 2024-25 fiscal year, the total expenditures just for housing inmates was $213,865.
“We are still housing as of today 18 inmates in other counties including Robertson, Smith, Cannon, Putnam, and Bedford. Some of them are females and some are sex offenders. Others are inmates that cannot go into the regular prisoner population because of trouble they have or have had that required that they be moved. Some have a very aggravated charge that keep them from being housed with other inmates,” said Sheriff Ray.
“If you compare that number to where we were in December the last time, I gave you a report on that ($129,304) we have spent $84,560 in just two months on inmate housing along with some ankle monitors with the probation service that gets paid out of that.”
“As of today (Tuesday, February 25) we are at $61,766 in the hole. That means at the next county commission meeting, if you want to, we will need to figure how much further we go in the hole or what it will take to get us through March and April.”
