News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office has no plans on creating a brand-new jail facility any time soon.
Sheriff Eddie Farris said an upcoming geotechnical study looking into expanding the current jail will also include the potential cost of building a new facility.
“I think that cost is going to be way, way out of the area, out of the ballpark, and very expensive for us to do that,” Farris said. “I just don’t think that makes sense for us, but ultimately it’s the county commissioners’ decision and I respect that. We as taxpayers, all of us, will have to pay for whatever we get.”
County Commissioners approved a contract with Cope Architecture last Monday for the jail study.
2nd District Commissioner Jim Martin voted to approve the contract, saying costs will only rise if the county doesn’t do something to address the jail’s needs.
“That’s just to get us to a point where we can start making decisions, but without that, we can’t really move,” Martin said. “We’ve discussed this for 16 years and I can attest to that, and we haven’t moved an inch.”
Farris said expanding the current facility would reduce future costs and eliminate potential security risks while moving inmates from the jail to the courtroom.
“When we start scattering different places out in two or three different facilities, the logistics and operational costs for our Sheriff’s office and for the county go up tremendously,” Farris said. “In the facility we’re going to propose, the inmates that are being held will never have to go outside.”
The $280,000 study will take approximately five to six months to complete. The potential expansion could help alleviate the jail’s issues with overcrowding by creating enough space for nearly 600 additional inmates.
