Morgan County Commission approves new corrections officers for jail expansion – WAAY

After four years of work, the $11 million expansion to the Morgan County Jail is almost ready to begin housing inmates.

On Tuesday, the Morgan County Commission gave approval for several additions for the jail expansion, chiefly allowing Sheriff Ana Franklin to hire 23 new corrections officers.

Commissioners also approved purchasing 148 mattresses for the second floor of the addition at a total cost of $5,772. However, Franklin said they plan to start with just the first floor before expanding upward.

"I like to do things in phases and in steps to make sure that everything is open and runs smoothly," Franklin said.

Just before the meeting the sheriff's office received their certificate of occupancy and passed the final inspection of the construction phase. They now move into finalizing the technology throughout the building as well as making sure all of the supplies are in place to house the inmates.

Currently, the jail has a daily population of around 480.

Franklin said new classrooms were also incorporated into the design of the building, with smaller rooms being used for counseling, drug counseling, parenting classes, etc. and larger classrooms for both inmate activities as well as officer training.

"That will save the county some money in sending folks off and we're going to plan on starting that two-week classroom training for our new hires and current employees quickly," Franklin said.

She said the expansion was needed not only because the City of Decatur wanted to house their inmates with the county's, but also because the county numbers are increasing.

"Our numbers have crept up due to a lot of proactive law enforcement and arrests and also due to the increasing problems with drug abuse and the economy. And those things that have coupled together to cause some increase in the number of people that are being housed in our facility," Franklin said.

Franklin said that when she took office in 2011, the daily inmate population was around 216. Today, she said that number is closer to 480.

She said part of the increase is due to steps that have been taken to try and keep repeat offenders off the streets.

"We're doing bond revocations, higher bonds, probation violations, those kind of things that would prevent those people from being repeatedly out in the revolving door that it was because we've had the space to do that," Franklin said.

Commission Chair Ray Long said the City of Decatur is buying 120 beds for their inmates to be housed in the facility. The city put $2 million toward the cost of construction and will pay the county $100,000 per month.

A formal ribbon cutting ceremony will take place Thursday morning to mark the end of construction on the expansion.

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Morgan County Commission approves new corrections officers for jail expansion - WAAY