The Rhea County (Tenn.) Jail on Monday reached its 60-day deadline to eliminate inmate overcrowding.
The jail, built in 1962, is approved to house 87 inmates, but in late June its population was more than 200, prompting an order to eliminate the problem from the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance.
In June, up to 11 men were crammed into four-bed cells, and 25 women were in an eight-bed cell with what appeared to be an air conditioning leak in the ceiling that wet the inmates' sleeping mats, which covered the floor. Men who had to sleep by toilets complained they couldn't sleep without getting urine splashed on them. Offices that were built in the 1960s were converted to cells, and men on the trusties hall were sleeping on mats in the hallway.
On June 28, the jail began transferring inmates to counties around Tennessee. By that afternoon, the jail's population was down to 157 from the 205 the day before.
This week, the Tennessee fire marshal's office reinspected the jail to ensure that it was in compliance with the order. The Tennessee Corrections Institute's official response is not yet available, but Kevin Walters, communications director for the institute, offered a summary of the findings.
"Rhea County officials have complied with the terms of the order," Walters wrote in an email. " the jail had an inmate population of 78 inmates and the issues with the emergency keys necessary for unlocking doors had been corrected."
The lack of easily accessible emergency keys to unlock cells in case of fire was the second deficiency listed in the state's June order.
"[The state is] working with us to keep in compliance, and we will do everything we have to, to work with the state to assure that we're within the guidelines of what they expect of us," said Jeff Knight, spokesman for the Rhea County Sheriff's Office.
But although the jail passed its inspection and is slightly under maximum capacity, Knight said there are still "many, many people in other facilities."
Call logs provided by the sheriff's office dating back to July 24 showed calls to multiple county jails across the state to see if they had any bed availability. Most said no, others said they would get back to them, and a few accepted anywhere from five to 20 inmates.
As of Monday, there were 86 inmates housed in other jails in surrounding counties, the farthest away being Coffee County. That number fluctuates continuously as inmates come and go, and each county is charging $39 per day per inmate.
The way it's determined which inmates should stay at the Rhea County Jail and which ones should be shipped away depends on their arraignment dates and, later, what sentences they receive.
"We try to keep the ones that are going to be arraigned the next week, and then when their court dates are set off, we try to send those out to the other counties," said Administrator of Corrections Lt. Melba Huffman. "[We try] to send them in groups where we can go and get them around the same court date."
Once inmates receive their sentences, they're sent to counties that are farther away, Huffman said.
George Thacker, Rhea County mayor, said the county commission has voted to build a new jail at the site of a former hospital off Highway 27 North. The new jail, estimated to cost about $16 million, will have 280-300 beds. Thacker said that price is better than the original $23 million estimate.
Thacker said Sheriff Mike Neal has a plan to help pay some of that money back, and the county has also been saving.
"We've been putting some money back for this jail for about four years now, so we've been planning for this jail for a while now," he said. But he could not say how much money the county had saved, noting the county recently switched finance directors.
"That's what we're trying to do, is figure out how much revenue we've got toward the jail," he said. "We've already got some sustainable money that comes in every year, so there's a sizable amount of money that we've been putting back."
But Neal said the money he's been saving - about $1 million - is specifically for the furnishing and staffing of the new jail.
"That's what I put this money aside for," he said. "This money is not to actually build the building. A lot of these jails, when they open, they don't have the money for extra staff or to furnish. That's what I'm preparing for ahead of time."
However, the cost for building a new jail is not the only task at hand. The monthly cost associated with housing and transporting 86 inmates to and from other jails is estimated to be about $106,000. That money will likely come from taxpayers' pockets.
The Rhea County Jail's overpopulation issue is not a new problem. It was an issue Neal inherited when he became sheriff 15 years ago, he said. And it's continuously come up during state inspections for years. In June of 2011, the jail lost its certification for several months after failing its annual inspection due to overcrowding. Neal said that year is when the jail entered a plan of action with the TCI, which meant having to regularly report to the state on how it plans to remedy the overcrowding.
"We've done additions to the jail, trying to stay ahead of the number curve ever since I've been sheriff," he said. "But by the time you get anything built, it's full before you get it done."
Contact staff writer Rosana Hughes at rhughes@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @Hughes Rosana.