Putnam Jail At 400; Federal Inmates Housed

Putnam County officials continue to settle into the expanded jail that opened this summer.

Sheriff Eddie Farris said the facility is operating much better with the additional space. Farris said the new space has provided them with some much needed flexibility that will be important as the county grows.

“We had a space that was supposed to hold thirty-two females, for instance, and we had as many as a hundred and nine in that area,” Farris said. “So just having that relief and having the numbers correctly according to how many restroom facilities you have and rooms you have and all that kind of stuff has really helped us.”

Farris said the extra room also allows them to isolate inmates that are causing problems and address them individually. Farris said they have had minor issues with lighting, water, and HVAC systems since moving in but all of that has been corrected.

“We’re always making some small changes here or there but for the most part our correction people (were) training in that facility a month prior, at least a minimum of four weeks prior to actually opening it,” Farris said. “So we’re pretty good. We’re used to it. There’s a few little small minor adjustments but overall we were certainly ready for the move in.”

Farris said they have about four hundred inmates in the jail right now, seventy-seven of which are females.

“Truly at this point in time I expected us to be closer to five hundred,” Farris said. “So I’m pleased with the number we had. Of course, I got it that we can house a hundred and ten federal inmates and we haven’t got that many yet. I don’t know, maybe we’ll get there, maybe we won’t. But anyway it’s going fine and I expect us to, here in probably within a year or so we’ll probably be pushing the five hundred mark.”

Farris said they already have about forty federal inmates at the new facility who are being used to bring in revenue.

“The reason that I embarked on this endeavor was because number one, I knew that we would certainly have the room to do so,” Farris said. “And number two, at a hundred and ten inmates, if we could do that three hundred and sixty-five days a year, that would bring some revenue into the county of about three million dollars.”

Farris said they will not be able to hold federal inmates as the jail fills up but they can do it for the next two to three years without issue.

“That helps the county and certainly relieves some of our debt on the building itself and helps our operating budget,” Farris said.