Stricter state inspectors have made their presence known in DeKalb County. For years the DeKalb County Jail and Annex have met minimum standards for certification by the Tennessee Corrections Institute. But this year the inspectors want the county to work toward developing a long range plan to correct long standing structural deficiencies or risk the jail losing its certification.
Several findings were identified during a state inspection of the jail on August 22 and while a follow-up inspection on October 4 revealed some of the issues had been addressed, others remain which will require a longer term fix. Although many of these same deficiencies have existed for years, both the jail and annex have consistently passed annual state inspections until this year.
While the jail and annex are not currently overcrowded, a major concern is that the facilities do not meet the state square footage per inmate space requirements.
“By the Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI), each inmate is required to have 25 square feet of clear floor space and 8 feet ceilings in sleeping areas and not less than 35 square feet for where an inmate is confined for more than 10 hours a day for walking areas. This is a total of 60 square feet per inmate,” said Sheriff Ray.
Another concern is the age of the buildings. The original jail was built in 1959 and lacks many state required essentials such as stainless steel sinks and commodes in the cells instead of the existing porcelain fixtures and the facility has no sprinkler system. The annex was added in 2001 and has issues of its own.
In a meeting with the County Mayor and County Commission Thursday night, Sheriff Patrick Ray said TCI officials have given assurances that the jail will continue to maintain its certification, provided the county seeks a remedy through a “plan of action” in cooperation with TCI and the County Technical Advisory Service (CTAS).
A “plan of action” allows a facility to maintain a certified status after failing to meet all minimum standards while demonstrating to the TCI Board of Control that the facility is making measurable progress over a period of time (months or years) to rectify deficiencies found during inspection.
The county has little time to act. Sheriff Ray said he must appear before the TCI Board of Control in Nashville on November 18 to announce the county commission’s decision on seeking a “plan of action.”
“If you grant the partnership between the County, the State and CTAS, the jail inspector said the TCI board will more than likely recertify us with the letter of the “plan of action”. If you decide not to do the “plan of action”, then the jail inspector said the TCI Board will immediately decertify the jail,” Sheriff Ray warned the county commission.
Should the jail be decertified, Sheriff Ray said the county would run the risk of being sued in federal court by local inmates which might result in a judge ordering the county to build a new jail according to more stringent federal standards as opposed to state regulations.
“If they decertify the jail and we are sued and lose the lawsuit, the jail inspector said a federal judge will determine what kind of jail to build, how to build the jail, the number of beds, number of staff members, etc.,” said Sheriff Ray.
“Personally, I am against building a new facility. I have expressed my concerns with the County Mayor and the state jail inspector both on this issue. But, if we do not do the required “plan of action” with the TCI Board, this opens me up, as the sheriff, and all of you on the commission as the funding body for the Jail facility, to lawsuits from the inmates who are housed in the jail,” Sheriff Ray continued.
“Again, I am not in favor of building a new facility, but I would request the county commission to allow the County Mayor and me to sign the letter of request for the partnership with CTAS and the Tennessee Corrections Institute to help us all to decide what we can do to fix our problem areas, the cost of the project, and a time line to do so,” added Sheriff Ray.
The county commission is expected to take up the matter during its regular monthly meeting Monday night, October 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the downstairs courtroom of the courthouse.
Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI) under the authority of T.C.A. 41-4-140, is required to establish minimum standards for adult local jails, lock-ups, workhouses and detention facilities in the state. The agency’s Board of Control establishes the standards to inspect and certify local correctional facilities. Inspections and re-inspections are conducted within the mandated timeframe to ensure compliance of all standards for the purpose of certification.
The following is Sheriff Ray’s complete address on this issue to the county commission Thursday night:
“Today we have 83 inmates incarcerated in our Jail. 65 males 18 females. We were told by the jail inspector that the 7 inmates who we have incarcerated in other jails due to their charges or mental capacity for security purposes also counts toward our inmate population number. So this makes a total of 90 inmates we have.
“Here are some of the findings from the jail inspectors who came on August 22 to inspect the jail and then came on October 14 to re-inspect the jail again to make sure we had the problems resolved.
“Restraint logs for the inventory of handcuffs and leg shackles were not logged in and out on a log sheet. We have corrected this and now they are logged in and out by Officers.
“Brooms and mops were not on a log that were placed in and out of the cells and a total number of brooms and mops on hand. This has been fixed.
“Logs for cleaning chemicals were not inventoried. We have fixed this.
“Disciplinary Board for inmates and an appeal process. We already had a policy on the Disciplinary Board but never used this for holding an inmate in a cell for less than 72 hours. We have rewrote the policy and will start enforcing the Disciplinary policy next week after the Commission Meeting. There are some issues with the policy about the segregation of inmates. We have nowhere to house them by their selves. We will do the best we can with this.
“Signatures for inmate’s property when releasing inmates. We were not doing this on OR bonds or criminal summonses because they were immediately released and never were locked in a cell. We have started doing this now.
“Doctor’s name on releasing inmates off of suicide watches or when they come back from Moccasin Bend. The medical department has taken care of this.
“2 exit signs were not working on the day of the inspection in the 2 basement cells. The inmates had disconnected the wires. This has been fixed.
“Evacuation Plans were not posted in the basement cells where the inmates could see them. This has been fixed.
“Hourly checks on inmates were being completed by looking at the cameras and not physically going to the cells to see the inmates. We have correct this and I will speak more about this in a few minutes.
“If you notice in the report, the State Jail Inspection report shows no overcrowding and the Jail is in compliance with no problems other than the structure of the building. The Inspector did make mention of how clean the building was to us. He said he has been in newer facilities that were not as clean as ours. He was very impressed on this.
“The Jail Inspector has addressed major problems with both buildings that he wanted me to discuss with you. The following problems and discussion points came from the State Jail Inspector and not from me.
“On the inspection day, there were 93 total inmates incarcerated in the jail. 8 were being housed in other jails. We have 102 certified beds in the jail. Although the 93 inmates are not over our bed capacity, when you add the 8 we were holding in other counties, it still just puts us at 101 inmates.
“He said there are not enough square footage per inmate in the cell areas in both buildings.
“By the Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI), each inmate is required to have 25 square feet of clear floor space and 8 feet ceilings in sleeping areas and not less than 35 square feet for where an inmate is confined for more than 10 hours a day for walking areas. This is a total of 60 square feet per inmate.
“On our inspection day, the State Inspectors counted the square footage on the beds in the jail cells. He did not count square footage by how many inmates who were in the cells because we were not over our 102 inmate population for this day.
“As a reminder to you, the number of square footage per inmate is 60 square feet.
“In the old part of the jail, which was built in 1959, there are 3 cells in the downstairs basement area.
“One basement cell contains 10 beds for a total of 22 square feet per inmate and had 7 inmates in the cell. The other basement cell contains 10 beds for a total of 23 square feet per inmate and had 9 inmates in the cell.
“One of these cells is where we house sex offenders. Male Inmates who are sex offenders have to be housed separate from the general population. We do sometimes have to put general population inmates in this cell due to no other cell to hold them in. An example of this is someone who can’t be housed in another cell because of problems with other inmates.
“The last cell in the basement is the trustee cell for the 2 litter crews and jail trustees. The Jail Inspector said where we are housing the male trustees, this cell was not even considered certifiable housing under the TCI codes. Trustees needs to be housed outside of the general population area and there are no other cells in the jail for them to be housed in.
“The holding cell in the basement is unusable and is only used for strip searching inmates. It has no sink or toilet and it also has no camera system in it.
“The main women’s cell on the main floor of the jail contains 16 beds for a total of 16.7 square feet per inmate and there were 14 inmates in the cell. The maximum security cells for the female inmates contains 6 beds in 3 separate cells for a total of 8 square feet per inmate and had 7 inmates in the cells. One inmate was on the floor because of problems with other female inmates in the main women’s dorm. 2 of the female’s maximum security cells does not have showers in them. We are having to swap inmates in and out of the cell daily to use the shower. We have no cells to hold female sex offenders or female trustees.
“There is 1 holding cell that has one bed in it on the main floor of the old jail. The cell does not have a toilet or sink in it. We have to get the inmate out every time they need to use the restroom and take them to the employee’s restroom which is an unsecure area of the jail. We also have to bring them water to drink as needed.
“In the old side of the jail, there is no natural lighting such as skylights in the cell areas. This is a requirement under the State’s jail standards. There are no ventilation systems in the cells for the showers which steam from the shower creates moister on the walls, ceilings, and floors. There are porcelain sinks and toilets in all of the cells in the old part of the jail. Per jail standards they should all be jail certified stainless steel sinks and stainless steel toilets, which are unbreakable.
“There is only one exit egress in the basement that goes outside in case of an evacuation of the building. If there was a fire in the basement where the dryers are, the inmates would have to exit up the stairs and be taken out the front door of the jail to an unsecure area in the roadway.
“The old side of the jail does not have a sprinkler system installed at all and that is a requirement from the State Fire Marshall’s Office.
“The Annex part of the jail was built in 2001.
“The maximum security cell contains 10 beds. This cell area was only designed for 6 beds in 3 separate cells with a dayroom area for exercise. The jail inspector has allowed in times past to allow 4 beds to be placed in the dayroom. Now the jail inspector says they are too many beds in this cell. By allowing these additional beds in the dayroom area, it has also cut down on the square footage per inmate. The jail inspector did not measure the square footage in this cell because of the extra beds. There is also no natural lighting with skylights in this cell area. This cell had 12 inmates in it the day of inspection. 2 were on the floor because of problems with other inmates in other cells.
“The Main dorm cell contains 48 beds and had 36 inmates in the cell when inspected. The inspector did not measure this cell for inmate square footage. There are too many inmate beds in this cell. This is the cell where most of our problems such as fights happen and where most of the escapes overtime has happened. We have 3 to 4 Correctional Officers on a shift at a time, so the inmate to Correctional Officer ratio is way too high.
“The Annex only has 2 holding cells. One is a holding cell for inmates who are awaiting booking and/or are too intoxicated to be put in general population. The other holding cell is used for a suicide cell where inmates who are wanting to harm themselves are placed until they can be evaluated and transported to a mental facility. These 2 cells are also used for medical watches on inmates that have been ordered 15 minute medical checks by the jail medical staff. On the day of the inspection, there was one inmate on suicide watch in one cell and 2 inmates in the other holding cell who could not be housed anywhere else in the jail because of mental problems. One of these inmate’s has been held in this cell for 73 days as of today. We have tried to call other jails to house this inmate for us but the other jails do not want to take the inmate because of his medical problems. The inmate has to be let out of the cell daily to take showers and use the phone among other things.
“Neither one of the buildings have one or 2 man cells to house inmates who are required to be placed into solitary confinement because of disciplinary reasons, mental problems, or infectious diseases.
“The Jail is required by the State to have provisions for inmates to visit with attorneys. We currently use the jail’s inmate visitation room to do this. There are no tables for the attorneys to use and only stationary stools to sit on.
“The jail inspector also spoke about the age of both of the facilities.
“The Jail Inspector told us a good rule of thumbs of how to age a jail is by multiplying the age of the jail times 3 years. This is due to people living in the jail 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. There is a lot of wear and tear on Jail facilities.
“By this calculation, the old part of the Jail’s age, which is 60 years old, multiplied by 3 years would project it to be today to be at 180 years old.
“The Annex part of the jail’s age is 18 years old. Multiplied by 3 years would project it to be at 54 years old today.
“On another note, Correctional Officers are required by TCI to do mandatory hourly checks on every inmate in every cell area of the jail. This includes all of the holding cells even if we know no one is in there. The hourly inmate checks take around 30 mins for 2 Correctional Officers to look at each inmate inside all of the jail cells. There is a logbook on the outside of every cell where the Correctional Officer will log the date and time the check is done. Each hourly check requires 2 Correctional Officers, one counting and one standing at the cell door. Also, there has to be a formal visual face to face inmate count conducted separately on each shift. With the two buildings and with so many cell areas in different locations, it is very difficult for the Correctional Officers to do this task fast. A mandatory check must also be made on the Jail’s outside perimeter by State Standards. This check takes 1 Correctional Officer about 5 mins on the outside of the jail. These checks take somewhere around 30 to 40 minutes if no problems arise. Once these checks are done, it is almost time for the same 2 Correctional Officers to start all over again with the hourly checks. The correctional officers are also having to do 15 min medical checks for intoxicated inmates who were brought into the jail and/or checking on inmates the jail doctor has put on medical watch in one, if not both, of the 2 holding cells in the Annex. There are also 15 min checks on suicidal inmates. The Correctional Officers are also having to book, feed, and medicate inmates in between the checks. There is also a mandatory 1.5 hour book cart run to all inmates weekly in each cell.
“On the Jail Certification paperwork in front of you, you will notice it states 23 Correctional Officers. We only have 17 full time Correctional Officers. The other 6 officers are the 3 secretaries, 1 Cook, and the 2 Litter Guards who we have crossed trained to assist the Correctional Officers as backups when needed. When the Jail Inspector found out the jail was only running with the 17 total full time Correctional Officers, he said he doesn’t see how the Jail is running properly with this amount of Officers and the mandated State requirements are being completed and met.
“I will agree with the Jail Inspector on this one finding. During our inspection, the Inspector said on the mandated hourly checks of the inmates, we were late or missed like 3 hourly checks. On the logbook, the Correctional Officers wrote notes in the lines to reflect why the checks were missed or were late. They were missed or late because the Correctional Officers were getting inmates ready for court, booking other inmates, or short staffed. That’s like 3 missed checks out of 720 checks in a 30 day period. There are 8,760 checks we are required to do in a year. I’m not sure we can make all of the checks due to the shortage of Correctional Officers. The State has a “no tolerance” requirement about the hourly checks. We were told by the inspector that we are required to do the checks every hour “period”. That means we will be in trouble if we miss or we are late on one check in a year’s time. They will be coming back to inspect us again shortly to make sure we are not late or missed any of the hourly checks.
“I do not think the amount of employees I have will be able to do the hourly checks on time with only 4 Correctional Officers on a shift. Much less if someone is out sick, on vacation, or there is a vacancy in an open position. This will make the jail having only 3 Correctional Officers on a shift to do everything. This will create a problem for the jail certification. My employees are trying their best on this and we will see what will happen.
“The nightshift, weekends, and holidays are the times we have major trouble doing all of the required hourly checks and doing the other things we are required to do. During the daytime on weekdays, during normal business hours, we can use the 3 secretaries, the cook, or the 2 litter guards to help if needed. The other times there is no one here to help them. If we continue without extra officers to help, I am afraid it will force us into locking the Jail up after hours. Most county jails do this. I am strongly against closing the jail after regular working hours, because I feel if someone has a problem or concern, they should be able to come to the jail and speak with someone 24 hours a day 7 days a week. We will just have to see how this goes and make a decision within the next few months to see what happens.
“I was asked by the Commission back earlier this year about a projected timeline of when I thought we would have to build another facility because of overcrowding issues. If you remember, I told you I was not needing a larger facility to house more inmates because I have tried to keep the jail population down under our 102 bed capacity. I am still currently sending State Sentenced inmates to the State Pen or other jails who are contracted with the Tennessee Department of Corrections to hold their inmates.
“I, along with others, do not understand how the jail has retained its certification for all of these years with the State Tennessee Corrections Institute doing the inspections and now, all of a sudden, we have all these issues. This is something you and I will need to take up with the Jail Inspectors and CTAS when they talk with all of us later on.
“So saying all of this, In order to retain the certification of the jail, the Jail Inspector said the County Commission needs to implement this plan of action or they will decertify the jail. If they decertify the jail and we are sued and lose the lawsuit, the Inspector said a Federal Judge will determine what kind of jail to build, how to build the jail, the number of beds, number of staff members, etc. all being determined by Federal Standards instead of State Standards.
“Personally, I am against building a new facility. I have expressed my concerns with the County Mayor and the State Jail Inspector both on this issue. But, if we do not do the required “plan of action” with the TCI Board, this opens me up, as the Sheriff, and all of you on the commission as the funding body for the Jail facility, to lawsuits from the inmates who are housed in the Jail.
“Again, I am not in favor of building a new facility, but I would request the County Commission to allow the County Mayor and me to sign the letter of request for the partnership with CTAS and the Tennessee Corrections Institute to help us all to decide what we can do to fix our problem areas, the cost of the project, and a time line to do so.
“The State Jail Inspector has already issued a date for me to go before the TCI Board in Nashville to show what the County Commission has decided to do to address the above problems. The date of the meeting is December the 4th. If you grant the partnership between the County, the State and CTAS, the Jail Inspector said the TCI board will more than likely recertify us with the letter of the “plan of action”. If you decide not to do the “plan of action”, then the Jail Inspector said the TCI Board will immediately decertify the jail.
“If you decide to sign the “plan of action”, the Commission will be required to have written records of any meeting minutes of where you discussed the jail among other things. The County Mayor or the County Commission will also need to appoint a Jail Committee to oversee this project. It is also my understanding that I, along with Mayor Stribling, will have to go to Nashville before the Tennessee Correctional Institute board each year and report to the board of what the County Commission is doing to fix the problems for a continued certification for the jail. The Inspector did state to us that he has seen “plans of actions” from other Counties take anywhere from two to 10 years to complete. After the project is completed, the County Commission will have to ask for a “plan of action release” from the State TCI board.
“The State Jail Inspector has given Mayor Stribling and me a date of November 18 to meet with them and CTAS. We will find out more information at this meeting and we will be able to ask questions. They have not given us a time yet. I will notify Mayor Stribling of the time and where the meeting will take place when they call me. In return, he can notify each of you if you want to attend the meeting. I would encourage you to attend the meeting and ask questions,” said Sheriff Ray.
