Beaufort County Tax Payers Remain at Jail Risk | Eastern North Carolina Now

    It consists of repairing some locking and sliding mechanisms for sliding jail doors. The company that made our mechanisms is out of business. The good news is these are what would be termed unsophisticated light weight machine shop apparatus. That means just about any machine shop could make the repair parts. We are talking gears and sliders that were assembled mostly from off the shelf items.

    We got where we are from a long term perspective because the County has been taking the cheap way out on repairs. Also, the sheriff have not been informing commissioners of the true condition of the jail cell doors. I have asked repeatedly about what needs maintenance in the jail. Only thru making issues like the plumbing have I made any progress.

    From a short term perspective, Jerry Evans, Frankie Waters and Sheriff Coleman decided not to repair the doors beginning in mid January of 2019. This is a back room deal. They stopped sending for people to service the doors. We had a company that did regular maintenance on the doors but they were not notified to make repairs. This is real collusion, not the fake kind of collusion that President Trump has been accused of.

    Without the entire board of commissioners knowledge about half of the jail was shut down and we started paying about $50 per day for as many as 40 prisoners to be kept at other jails. The cost, including transportation, is about $2,500 per day. This situation was not presented to the entire board of commissioners until Commissioner Stan Deatherage and I demanded a special called meeting to address the situation. There was a lot of maneuvering by the gang of four (Frankie Waters, Jerry Evans, Ed Booth and Jerry Langley).

    The gang of four along with the sheriff dragged their feet and did a very poor job of finding vendors while they worked the project up to the present day 1.5 million dollars. This was all done with back room dealing.

    I insisted on sitting in on all of the meetings involving vendors. There was an effort by the Sheriff and the gang of four to make enough changes in the jail so the needed repairs would become a re design of the jail. If that had happened we would have to have a new jail. This is the risk.

    The Washington Daily news headline alarmed me because there is still an effort to make enough changes so we need a new jail.

    Here is how it works. Our present jail is compliant with all North Carolina jail regulations. Once the repair project shows enough changes, by installing swinging doors and changes to cell layout we would then have to meet all of the requirements for a new jail. We do not have enough space in the basement of the courthouse to meet those requirements and house 85 prisoners. So we would need a new jail.

    The secret to not building a new jail is to simply repair the existing doors where they are.

    That is why I insist on being in any meetings with architects and engineers. When we cross the line of hiring architects and engineers we are into design, not repairs. Those who want a new jail will then deal with state regulators in the back room. That will be a 25 million dollar expense to you.

    I have repeatedly and in public made the request that I be notified and included in all meetings with any engineers and architects that either Beaufort County of our contractors hire or bring on to the site to work on the jail. This is a repair project, not a design project. I do not trust the gang of four, the sheriff or county employees to do the right thing on jail repairs.

    Why don't we need a new jail? Because we have incredibly poor management of the existing jail.

    With proper screenings we can reduce the jail population. We have an average of 18 prisoners who have not even had a trial date set who have been in jail for between six months to more than two years. All of these people are costing you a minimum of $50 per day. We do not have a system to get mental health inmates released for treatment. We are running a, depending on how you look at the numbers, medical program for prisoners that cost between one million and two million dollars per year. We are not effectively using our ankle bracelet program. We do not insist on all prisoners being moved thru the jail system with prompt trial dates.

    Basically the Sheriff, nor the commissioners care as long as they can raise your taxes to pay the bills. The Trump Administration is looking into the issue of why so many people are held in jails. The Feds could force us to have fewer inmates. In that case we would need a smaller jail.

    The article in the Washington Daily News is propaganda, preparing you for the big back room fix and a new jail.

    The gang of four and the sheriff have enough problems with the recent lawsuits having to do with racial problems in the sheriff's department. Settlement of these claims could cost us millions and now these same Beaufort County elected officials want to add a new jail. We are wasting a lot of money because of really bad management decisions made by our elected officials.

    My request remains that I be included on any contact that involves the jail and the hiring of architects and engineers by anyone. I am paranoid for a good reason.
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