by D-Day for the Habersham County Jail’s future is November 4, which is only three months away. Voters in the county will decide whether to approve funds for the construction of a new $52 million jail on that day.
Other county and municipal projects, such as new headquarters for the fire department and emergency services, police and fire vehicles, and upgrades to roads, bridges, parks, and recreational facilities, would also be funded by the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), which voters will choose in November.
This year marks the expiration of the present SPLOST. The aggregate sales tax in Habersham would stay at 7% if SPLOST VIII is adopted. The sales tax would drop to 6% if it didn’t pass. County authorities, especially those at the jail, would rather not think about that prospect.The jail and all of the administrative offices for the sheriff’s office are located in Clarkesville’s Habersham County Detention Center. (NowHabersham.com)
The Habersham County Detention Center, was opened in 1997 and was hailed as a cutting-edge prison that would continue into the future, has not fared well. The jail experienced corrosion and porous leaks within a dozen years, and by 2009, newly elected sheriff Joey Terrell was concerned about possible legal action.
His worries are echoed by jail managers today.
Voters will choose the $75.9 million SPLOST package.
Jail tour
Major Les Hendrix and current Habersham County Sheriff Robin Krockum highlighted several issues with the present jail during a recent tour. For instance, a horizontal structural steel beam in the guard tower obstructs the officer’s view of the entire prison, even though the officer should be able to see every inch of it.
Hendrix also pointed out that the facility does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in a number of ways, including making it difficult or impossible for inmates who use wheelchairs to enter certain areas.The Habersham County Jail’s damaged cinder brick wall. The jail was intended to serve the county for well into the following century when it was constructed in the late 1990s. As conditions worsened, then-sheriff Joey Terrell called for the construction of a new jail in 2012. (NowHabersham.com/Joshua M. Peck)
Male prisoners lingered around along walls that were chipped, discolored, and damaged in one broad location. The lighting is bad throughout, and one cubicle that was once a shower is now so badly broken that it is completely useless.
It seemed that the women’s cell block needed to be repaired because it was similarly damaged. When Hendrix dropped there, he was greeted by name by about six female prisoners who moved around the open space.
A nurse was working stooped over a computer in the tiny jail infirmary, which is so small that one can touch both walls at once.
The overcrowded jail has no room for major religious services or communal meals, only nooks and crannies for religious chaplains to meet with convicts, and tiny areas for meetings between lawyers and the inmates they represent. Inmates currently receive their meals on carts that are moved through the cramped corridors.
Serving and separating inmage populations
According to Hendrix, the jail kitchen was constructed in the 1990s to prepare 90 meals at once, but there are currently 162 inmates. In order to maintain the required nutritional standards for prisoners, food services will also need to be upgraded.The jail kitchen was constructed to serve 90 prisoners meals. (NowHabersham.com/Joshua M. Peck)
Regularly, inmates are permitted to enjoy outdoor leisure in the jail’s public areas or interior activities like playing board games, watching television, or listening to music. However, federal and state regulations require that violent offenders be housed apart from juveniles, so only a small number can be released at a time. Men and women, who make up an increasing portion of the jail population, must be kept apart from mentally unstable patients and the general public.
According to Krockum, inmates who pose a risk of harming themselves or others must also be placed apart and closely monitored.
Hendrix stated that it is never a good idea to combine an 18-year-old DUI case with an older individual who has been found guilty of serious assault.Inside the Habersham County Jail’s men’s cell. (NowHabersham.com/Joshua M. Peck)The Habersham County Jail’s common courtyard, where prisoners are permitted to spend time. (NowHabersham.com/Joshua M. Peck)
According to the sheriff, a new arrangement would better and more safely serve each of these divided communities. Krockum and Hendrix envision a wheel-and-spoke system in which a central hub serves as the center of each block housing various types of inmates.
Space stressors
According to the law enforcement personnel, there are several reasons behind the desire for additional room. In particular, more women are being detained than men. The total number of inmates has increased.
State law modifications have also had an impact. Prior to modifications a few years ago, the threshold for felonious theft was $500 for the stolen object; now, it is $1,500. In contrast to state-run prisons that house felons, this implies that a greater number of the minor thefts end in misdemeanor convictions, and those are the inmates in the county jail.
According to Krockum, that has made things much more difficult for us.
Touting online taxes
Many taxpayers, who feel overburdened by inflation and ever-increasing property tax assessments, continue to object to the cost of a new jail. But because to the internet, County Manager Tim Sims said the load on taxpayers is lower than it would have been a few years ago.
Sims stated that the online sales tax has resulted in a significant increase in revenue. It was challenging to collect state or local taxes from online transactions during the early decades of internet commerce, but the systems are now firmly established. According to him, we now anticipate receiving an additional $10 million in income as a result of the [online] tax.
Sims went on to say that Habersham County residents never bear the brunt of the sales tax burden.
According to data from the Chamber of Commerce, visitors from outside the county who come to shop, dine, or stay here account for between 30 and 40 percent of the county’s sales tax.
Revenue generating
According to Sims and Sheriff Krockum, the new, larger jail would partially pay for itself, which is perhaps the most significant factor from the perspective of the taxpayer. Habersham would be able to lease space to other jurisdictions, including Atlanta, one of the numerous jurisdictions that consistently need jail space, if it built a new, bigger jail. The $55 per day fees would offset Habersham’s present costs for housing and transporting prisoners in other jurisdictions, including Crawford in Oglethorpe County, which is over 65 miles distant.
Habersham presently spends between $400,000 and $600,000 annually on exporting inmates to be housed in neighboring counties, according to Sims and Krockum. Additionally, it takes up guards’ time to transport inmates; that time could be better used to care for the local populace.
According to the officials, the county would collect money from other jurisdictions to help pay for the new jail’s construction after it was finished. Hendrix noted that this is predicated on the idea that local crime hasn’t increased significantly enough to necessitate the full usage of the new facility.
Rehabilitation, not just punishment
Sims intends to address certain community groups regarding the necessity of a new jail, but Krockum and Hendrix stated they do not currently have any plans to go out and advocate for SPLOST VIII. According to every official surveyed, they hoped that the new building will provide room for inmates to get rehabilitation rather than only punishment.
This is the appropriate thing to do; you must act morally toward people.
According to Hendrix, we would be able to start a mobile GED course with North Georgia Technical College. The prison population now has extremely few options for online self-improvement courses.
According to Hendrix, he spoke with Shelby Ward, the Dean of Adult Education at NGTC, about the possibility of working together. When called late Wednesday, Ward was not immediately available for comment.
Although the construction of the jail is currently at the discretion of the county taxpayers, which means the SPLOST vote in November, Krockum and Hendrix pointed out that this might change at any time. The federal government can order the construction of a new jail at taxpayer expense or even build the jail itself and charge the county, probably at a higher cost, if it determines, as it did in Fulton County, that the current jail is unsafe or in danger of violating the civil rights of inmates.
The right thing to do
SteelCell, a Baldwin-based company that constructs correctional facilities across the country, has already been chosen as the contractor to construct the new cells. According to officials, Habersham’s objectives are met by the designs, which include utilities outside but connected to the cells to allow maintenance without endangering security. On a truck, the newly installed jail cells would come already set up. The cubicles would subsequently be surrounded by the new structure.
SPLOST referendums have previously been defeated by county taxpayers. However, Sims and jail officials contend that the investment is not only prudent but also essential, and it might even save unforeseen costs in the future.
When questioned about the jail’s expenses, Sims responded, “You have to do the right thing for folks; this is the right thing.” Even if we may not like it, we must treat people with compassion because they are still human and are the ones who have done wrong.
