TCI Dept. Director Cautions Putnam Commission About Understaffed Jail

Tennessee Correction Institute’s Deputy Director says Putnam County Commissioners need to think more carefully about staffing at the new justice center.

Bob Bass said if the jail is understaffed, it runs the risk of damages.

“Protect your investment, it’s very important to protect your investment,” Bass said. “Inmates won’t manage themselves. I wish they would, but they won’t. So you have to have staff there to manage them.”

Bass said he has seen jails be understaffed and actually get destroyed. Sheriff Eddie Farris said knowing the county’s financial position, it was difficult to come and ask for more than 60. He said he did not believe the county could afford a full staff of 110 employees.

Farris said not having sufficient staffing could also impact the justice center’s ability to have programs for inmates. He said at the end of the day, the most important needs are for jail security and management.

“We may go down the road and figure out we don’t have enough, but right now with the number of inmates we’ve got ad hopefully with the facility we can do it for a lot less,” Farris said. “(…) I’m hoping we can start with 60 new jail addition people and then we will try our best to, first of all, find those people to work and second, start to open up our facility with that. If we see we can’t do it with 60, I’ll be back, but I’m hoping we can do it with 60 new employees.”

Bass said the expansion puts the county one step closer to cleaning up past accreditation issues. The county has been under a plan of action for several years.