Inmates sit inside a cell at the Rhea County Jail in Dayton, Tenn. The jail was decertified by the state on Wednesday.DAYTON, Tenn. – The state on Wednesday decertified the chronically overcrowded Rhea County Jail for the remainder of 2011.
Tennessee Corrections Institute Inspector Barry Suttles said Wednesday afternoon that the jail was decertified in a vote by the institute’s control board and that county officials needed to “continue the plan of action” to alleviate the facility’s overcrowding.
A jail committee has been working with a Chattanooga firm to conduct a feasibility study into the county’s need for a jail expansion or a new facility.
Decertification could mean the loss of the jail’s insurance coverage or an increase in those rates, officials said. It does not affect day-to-day operations, Suttles said.
Jeff Knight, with the sheriff’s department, said Wednesday that the jail’s insurance coverage had not and might not be canceled.