Davidson County Jail Expansion Discussion Heats Up Over Cost and Safety Concerns
A discussion on Thursday between the Davidson County Sheriff's Department and the Davidson County Commissioners on the cost and scope to build a new jail became heated when the topic of cost over safety became an issue.
The county commissioners have been talking about building a new jail since 2018, after being cited by the NC Health and Human Services for overcrowding and inadequacies at the facility. Shortly afterwards, Moseley Architects came up with an original proposal for a three-story building that would include 450 beds for inmates, as well as new kitchen, laundry and other amenities.
The estimated cost for the structure in 2019 was approximately $55 million, but due to inflation, the impact of COVID-19 and a two-year delay due to the U.S. Post Office not vacating the county owned property, the cost balloon to $95 million. In May, the county commissioners voiced concern about the price and asked the design firm to come up with a scaled back alternative, with reducing cost as a major issue.
On Thursday, architects with Moseley presented the commissioners with a two-story new expansion of the current jail and updating the cell doors of the section of the old facility renovated in 2000, at a cost of $67 million.
But Major Billy Loya, who oversees operations at the Davidson County Detention Center, said he had concerns over the new proposal. First, he said the new design only nets 88 additional beds, which will not be sufficient for the jail population in the future.
The current correctional facility houses approximately 300 inmates but has an estimated daily population close to 270 people, which can fluctuate according to the sheriff’s department.
Louya also said that the plan to replace outdated cell doors would require the rehousing of between 100 to 150 inmates to other facilities while construction was taking place.
“I'm not going to risk having inmates in there with construction equipment and risk the safety of our officers,” he said.
He said it could cost up to $100 a day per inmate to house inmates in other jurisdictions, and he would rather see the county spend the money now to increase bed capacity.
“We have been very clear in our position that this (current plan) is not enough beds,” said Louya. “We have got to consider the future. If you are going to talk about accruing cost to rehouse inmates, instead of paying another county I would rather see us increase our beds in the new jail.”
Commissioner Todd Yates questioned why temporary walls couldn’t be placed during construction.
Louya explained besides the physical layout of the building making it difficult, there would also need to be additional staffing to secure access for workers. He said there is already currently a staffing shortage at the jail, and recruitment has been difficult.
This led to an off-topic discussion on the salary for correctional officers, future staffing costs, the jail population, and even a question on crime statistics. Yates stated the county has increased the sheriff’s yearly budget by $13 million since 2018.
Louya said those statements were unfair, because many of the inflated operating costs were beyond their control.
He said was only telling the commissioners his opinion as a professional who has worked in the jail for many years. He said the commissioners need to prioritize what is important, money or safety.
"We are in there every day, you are not,” said Louya. “It seems like you know more than we do... Our responsibility is to give you the information as professionals. It is on your shoulders and blood will be on your hands if somebody gets hurt, not mine. I am here to defend our officers and everybody else in that jail.
Sheriff Richie Simmons said he feels recent discussions, whether its salary increases or the cost of building the jail, has become fractured and some comments have been taken as criticism of the sheriff’s department.
“It seems like we are not working together, we are working against each other and I’m ready to start working together...We are just trying to give you the best advice possible,” said Simmons.
Commissioner Karen Watford said the discussion on the jail had gotten off track, but it was important to note that the county commissioners must take everything into consideration, and that the sheriff’s department is just as important as other areas, such as education, taxes or social services.
“(People) think that we don’t appreciate you, but we do,” said Watford. “We have a tough job, we promised our citizens that we would be good stewards of our money...and it seems our judgement is being questioned. We asked them to design these changes and then we get bombarded with all this information. We just have to try to figure it out.”
Other commissioners asked if there was any middle ground between the original plan and the new plan, and they entered a discussion on alternative options. Many said they were concerned the current design would not be adequate for future jail populations.
In the end, they asked the design firm to come back with estimated alternative costs of adding an annex building on the adjacent SunTrust Bank property, which the county recently purchased, that could be built as needed. The design firm will also include additional cost to add a third floor on the existing plan that would be unused, but fitted for future needs.
At the regular meeting on Monday, the county commissioners approved increasing the contract services for Moseley Architects by $2.6 million. The original contract was for $4 million but was increased to $6.6 million because of the redesign of the original proposal.
