TCI and CTAS Renew Discussions with County Commission Over Deficiencies at the DeKalb County Jail

January 19, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

Getting acquainted!

For the first time, the new members of the county commission Wednesday night learned directly from officials of the Tennessee Corrections Institute and the County Technical Assistance Service the condition of the DeKalb County Jail and Annex and the requirements for correcting structural deficiencies to maintain state certification of the operation which may at some point in the future require a new building program.

Bob Bass, Deputy Director of the Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI) along with Jim Hart, Jail Consultant and Field Manager of the County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS) met with the County Mayor, County Commission, and Sheriff in the lower courtroom of the courthouse.

The meeting was an informal workshop question and answer type setting where Bass and Hart updated the group on some of the specific problems related to the physical plant of the jail and what TCI expects of the county in meeting standards. “Tonight (Wednesday) was kind of a kickoff meeting. You have some new county commissioners and a new county mayor from when we were here the last time in 2021 so we needed to reorganize because the jail issue has not gone away. Going forward we will be working with the commission to more closely examine the issues at the jail and to better educate them on what needs to be done,” said Bass.

The mission of TCI and CTAS is mostly advisory. Its up to the county commission to decide on a specific course of action, whether it be future construction of a new jail or criminal justice center, or expansion of the existing facility. A decision of that kind is not expected to happen anytime soon. Months of meetings and planning have to go into any project under consideration. “The only role we (TCI) play in this is the educational part of it. We are not here to say you have to do this or that. TCI oversees compliance. We are not regulatory. It just behooves a county to be in compliance to ensure that you are running a constitutionally correct jail so that if you have to go to court, we can go to court with you. We (TCI) certify the officers’ training and certify the jail to make sure it follows certain guidelines to standards,” Bass continued.

“The particular standards you are in trouble with are physical plant. How the jail was built. It has nothing to do with what the sheriff’s department has done or the staff when it comes to operation. In fact, its one of the cleanest jails I have been in. Even the part you shouldn’t be operating (the oldest building) is clean and well organized. You just don’t meet TCI standards in some areas,” he said.

The oldest building, which has been in operation since 1959 and houses prisoners in its basement, poses perhaps the greatest concern. “Your jail is in trouble because of the housing units. You are housing people in the basement with twenty beds which don’t meet standards and you have some makeshift cells down there and when they are no longer in use which may occur after our next inspection cycle that will bring your total bed count down to around 85 which will probably put you immediately over (capacity),” said Bass.

“That basement has no natural light. You must have skylight. Windows that produce natural light. You must have an 8-foot ceiling height. Your basement ceiling is 7 feet, 6 inches. Its not sprinkled. Sprinklers are not part of our standards unless you are building a new facility but old facilities like yours are not grandfathered in and you have a cage down there which serves as a makeshift cell for trustees with a 12-inch gap on top of it. That is unauthorized housing. An inmate could come over that gap and have access to appliances, water heater, chemicals, etc,” said Bass.

The basement cells each have 10 beds, but the square footage only exists for six inmates and while the cells have porcelain sinks and toilets the state requires they be stainless steel. The cells also have no floor drains and conduit is exposed.

Cells for females in another part of the jail have similar issues.

As for the jail annex, which has been in operation since 2001, there are 46 beds with adequate space for only 32 inmates.

According to Bass new and existing facilities must have at least a minimum size multiple-occupancy cell for 2-64 occupants with twenty-five (25) square feet of clear floor space for each occupant in the sleeping areas, and a ceiling elevation of not less than eight (8) feet. At least thirty-five (35) square feet of clear floor space must be provided for each occupant when the occupant is confined for more than ten (10) hours per day.

“Your population is growing and as your community grows, chances are you will need a bigger jail. Of course, any given day you could be overcrowded for various reasons. In 2018, our inspection showed you had 90 inmates. In 2019 there were 107. After COVID you were back up to 77 inmates in 2021 and 99 in 2022 with 102 beds total capacity for 78 males and 24 females, ” said Bass.

More than three years ago the county initiated a long-term plan of action through a partnership with TCI and CTAS in order to keep the jail state certified until deficiencies are addressed. As part of that plan the sheriff has to submit monthly progress reports to TCI on what measurable progress is being done by the county to eventually make the jail compliant with the standards established by the state. Immediately after forming the partnership, the county requested that CTAS conduct a feasibility study of the jail operation which has been done that counts toward the ‘measurable progress “requirement as do meetings with TCI and CTAS like the one held by the county Wednesday night.

Although no measurable progress had to be shown during the height of the COVID 19 pandemic, Bass said the problems will eventually have to be solved. “There had to be a grace period because an issue like COVID really changed the way nearly everybody did business, so we (TCI) worked with them (county) during that process. I hope and pray that COVID is in the rearview mirror. I am concerned about whether it is or not. The jail population numbers which dropped during COVID are now back up if not more than they were before so its time now to re-focus our efforts and energy. Its going to be a long process. Its not something you do in one or two meetings. There will be deliberations for probably at least twelve to sixteen months before decisions are made,” Bass continued.

Bass suggested that the county commission start thinking about developing a master plan.

“A master plan would allow us to set up those steps to identify where you want to be six months from now, finding out cost factors and things like that, finding the property to put it (building project) on and all along the way the county commission could vote to either move forward or stop. There is no specific time limit. It takes time to get these things done. You could be in a plan of action three years. If you made a decision to build a jail tonight just in the design phase alone it would be a year so that plan of action is a good thing to have and as long as you have it and show measurable progress, we are not going to take away your certification,” said Bass.

Although jails in Tennessee may operate without state certification Bass said he doesn’t recommend it because of the risk of liability and lawsuits against the county.

January 19, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

You’ve heard of “Felix” the Cat and “Morris” the Cat but how about “Cameron” the Cat?

“Cameron” is the WJLE/DeKalb Animal Shelter featured “Pet of the Week”

“Cameron is a male cat just a year and a half old and he is super sweet. Cameron has been neutered, vaccinated, and micro-chipped. He is up to date on everything. Cameron is such a good boy and would make a great pet. He has a good personality and loves people and other cats. Cameron is the ultimate lap cat. He enjoys being indoors or even outdoors if you have a good space for him and he likes treats. His adoption fee is only $40,” said Shelter Director Emmaly Bennett.

“If you are interested in adopting Cameron please check out the adoptable pets link on our website at https://www.dekalbanimalsheltertn.com/to fill out an application and we will call you to come in and meet him. Please give us a call so we can find Cameron a good home,” said Bennett.

The shelter is open Monday-Friday from 8 to 4 and Saturday from 8 to 12 at 186 Transfer Station Road.

Meanwhile the DeKalb Animal Shelter will host an adoption event Saturday, January 28 at Tractors Supply from 9-12 and Cameron will be one of the featured pets there if he has not already been adopted by then.

January 19, 2023
By: Dwayne Page

A Dowelltown man, who eluded a deputy during a pursuit last April and then got into more trouble with the law after he broke into the Dry Creek Baptist Church and stole a 2002 Chevy church van appeared for sentencing in DeKalb County Criminal Court Wednesday, January 18.

41-year-old Kenneth Adam Wright of Vandergriff Hollow Road, Dowelltown entered a plea to charges of aggravated burglary, burglary, and auto burglary. He received a total sentence of five years. A restitution amount is to be determined. Wright was given jail credit of 450 days. His actual sentences for each offense are five years for the aggravated burglary, four years for the burglary, and two years for auto burglary to run concurrently as one five-year term.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said the story began Sunday night, April 3, 2022 when a deputy spotted a man, who he thought to be Wright, at DeKalb Market. Store video surveillance later confirmed that the man was Wright. Knowing that Wright had active warrants against him for failure to appear and was to be held without bond, the officer drove into the parking lot of DeKalb Market to speak to Wright but he jumped in his vehicle and fled. The deputy then activated his blue lights and sirens and began a pursuit of Wright’s vehicle on Nashville Highway which reached speeds of more than 100 miles per hour with Wright, at times, traveling on the wrong side of the highway almost hitting several oncoming automobiles. Wright stopped at Wilder Hollow in Dowelltown before abandoning the vehicle and fleeing on foot.

On Wednesday, April 6, 2022 someone from the Dry Creek Baptist Church on Dry Creek Road near Dowelltown discovered that the church van was missing and that the church building itself had been broken into and vandalized. It appeared someone had entered the building through the return to the central heat and air unit. Sheriff Ray said investigators believe the break-in and theft had actually occurred sometime on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.

Three hours after the church burglary and theft were reported Wednesday, April 6 at 2:36 p.m. an Alexandria Police officer, having heard about it, spotted a van behind a church in Alexandria, which turned out to be the one stolen from Dry Creek Baptist Church. Two detectives from the sheriff’s department responded and upon arrival saw someone fitting Wright’s description. As the detectives approached, the man tried to flee on foot but they caught up and placed him in custody. The man was Wright.

Sheriff Ray said Wright admitted to stealing the church van, valued at $8,500 and breaking into the church and vandalizing the heating and air system causing over $1,000 in damage.

In the aggravated burglary case, Wright was a co-defendant with three others charged with breaking into a Liberty home in May, 2020.

Sheriff Ray said deputies responded to a complaint of a prowler around a residence on Old Highway 53 in Liberty and discovered the burglary upon arrival. Detectives were notified and started an investigation which revealed that the foursome had broken into the residence twice on May 29, 2020 and stole several items with a total value of $7,395 including an Xbox 360, large red craftsman tool box, record player, paint rollers, 2 trail cameras, plastic tool box, a jump box, samurai katana, DVDs, tea set, hunting blind, Holy Bible vinyl record, shop vac, solar battery charger, antique oil lamp, pots and other miscellaneous items.

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