MONROE, N.C. — Union County needs an expanded jail to relieve overcrowding but commissioners are still looking for the money for construction.
Sheriff Eddie Cathey and Capt. Ronnie Whitacre updated commissioners on jail conditions during a Monday worksession. Hallways are still cramped, daily population is still high and there are still too many inmates for the number of beds.
Whittacre is the jail administrator. He assembled a presentation that showed areas like the hallway near where inmates are booked into the jail. Desks and work stations are set up in the hall because there is little room for processes like checking inmate fingerprints against a state law enforcement database.
"Everybody has to go through that one narrow area," Whitacre said.
Detention areas are also crowded. The average daily population has increased since 1993. Most inmates stay in jail for up to 15 days, but 26 have been in the jail for more than a year. Eighteen of those are facing murder charges. Two inmates have been in the jail for more than four years.
"That number is coming down," Cathey said. "Our distric attorney is making an extreme effort to get thouse numbers down on that end."
A majority of the men and women are held there until they appear in court, Whitacre said. But deputies must keep the population seperated by gender, age and sometimes by how violent an inmate can become. They also must keep co-defendents facing charges in the same case from rooming together, or any other rooming where the inmates might have a bad history together.
State regulations require one inmate to have 50 square feet. Most of the cells in Union County's jail have a square footage little over the requirement for two inmates - 85 square feet. But space shortage often forces deputies to house three inmates into each 7 foot by 14 foot cell.
"With three inmates being in there, we're 22 square feet below the minimum standard," Cathey said.
Close quarters leads to fights, which result in injury, which result in hospital and other medical bills that are then the responsibility of the taxpayer.
The county population continues to grow. While jail staff are making do at the moment, an expanded jail will be needed soon, Cathey said.
"We want to keep moving forward on this," he said. "Even if we break ground tomorrow, it'll be three years before the jail is finished."
Read more: The Enquirer Journal - Jail overcrowded but county pockets are empty
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