While the debate continues on whether or not to expand the jail at the Criminal Justice Center at 515 Liberty Street, all someone has to do is visit the third floor at the Madison County Courthouse.
A portion of the third floor houses the office of the Assessors Office, which is not immune to the problems that begin one floor above, and cascade to the department.
“It’s not as bad as it was, but it was bad many, many times, for months and months,” said Frances Hunley, Madison County’s Assessor of Property. “Plaster fell down, and we had to stay out of the area for about two weeks because of the fear of asbestos.
“It was tested, and it took a while, but tests came back negative. We’ve had to cover equipment and desks because of the leaks – it was a persistent problem.”
The fourth floor is the jail annex for Madison County, where members of the media received a first- hand look Wednesday, at some archaic conditions that include metal showers that not only leak, but are rusting out and cannot be repaired, water sinks that cannot be turned off, because the belief is they cannot be turned on again, and the lack of adequate ventilation.
“We haven’t put this off,” said Jimmy Harris, mayor of Madison County, “When I first came here (as County Mayor, 2007), there could be as many as 10 garbage cans catching water.”
Harris, like Hunley, has his office on the third floor of the Madison County Courthouse.
“Yes, we would much rather spend county money on schools than jails, but this is something we need to get to.”
That something Harris mentioned is an expansion of the existing jail at the Criminal Justice Center.
The plan is to close the annex, which has room for 64 inmates, 80 at the Penal Farm, and use the new expanded facility at the Criminal Justice Center as a combined facility.
The CJC has 303 beds.
“There would be 438 beds at the new jail,” Harris said. “The question is, can we pay for that.
This is eye-opening … this building was renovated about 18 years ago, but it’s still an old facility.”
Lt. Gwen Bell of the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, who works at the jail annex, uses one word to describe the facility.
“Overcrowded,” Bell said. “This was the original jail in 1936. It was built for 80 males and 24 females, and we have limited space. This was the only jail we had before they built the CJC, and right now, this is small, compact and we really need more space.”
Captain Tom Rudder of the Madison County Sheriff’s Office said looking at the facility from the outside in does not come close to telling the condition of the annex.
“We have been talking about the problems at the annex,” Rudder said. “You see the conditions, you see the age of the jail – you see the issues we have, and I know we’ve tried to explain it to people, but with the problems we have, there is nothing that says it like seeing it first-hand.”
(PHOTO: Captain Tom Rudder of the Madison County Sheriff’s Office)
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