Friday, December 07, 2018

Jail and justice center options
Members of the Cocke County Corrections Partnership, meeting Thursday spent some time reviewing possible sites for a jail or justice center. They considered the pros and cons, costs etc. of several options including a site on Cope Boulevard and another behind the Cocke County Fairgrounds. Commissioner Gary Carver who facilitated the discussion suggested the group decide on a site by April, and then decide on a funding scenario. Commissioner Forrest Clevenger said he believes a workable plan can be developed to address the current jail overcrowding issues without a property tax increase or the implementation of a wheel tax for the needed funding. Both Clevenger and Cocke County Sheriff Armando Fontes presented alternative plans for solving the issue with the construction of prefab cells that could be moved in the future. The commissioner said a county in Indiana built a prefab facility for $12.5 million. He suggested a similar facility could be constructed locally, and the annex jail then be used as a transition house, for inmates to move back into the community. But he proposed that a modular facility could be placed immediately to the west of the current jail annex. Such a 76 inmate facility would take six to seven months to build and would cost nearly $5 million. Cocke County currently is housing about 170 inmates. While some jail proposals have a cost of about $85,000 per bed, Fontes said his proposal would cost $64,000 per bed, but he added that he has questions regarding the durability of such a structure, and how long it would last. Sheriff Fontes said the Tennessee Corrections Institute which certifies jails "is a proponent of brick and mortar facilities."


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