March 31, 2025
By: Dwayne Page
The Jail Committee of the county commission has scheduled a meeting for Monday night, April 7 at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of the county complex to discuss potential locations for construction of a new jail and for the first time the committee will engage the public in a question-and-answer period during public comments.
Although the issue was on the agenda for discussion during Monday night’s regular monthly county commission meeting, jail committee chairman Larry Green moved to table it until April 7.
“We have actually had a couple of properties that became available late and Tony (Luna) has done a real good job of summarizing every piece of property that we are looking at. I would like to table this motion until next Monday night and have a jail committee meeting and in the public comment section let people ask us questions and we will give an answer as to why we are doing certain things and moving in certain directions so the public will know exactly what we are thinking,” said Green.
The commission approved Green’s motion.
Last Monday night during a workshop, the commission identified two potential locations for a jail which had not been previously discussed including 33 acres on West Main Street and 71.5 acres known as Smith Road properties on Smith Road. Since that meeting, Green said two other available properties have been mentioned including 40 acres on Robinson Road and 84 acres on Twilla Lane. The jail committee will discuss these potential options along with the property near Walmart on West Broad Street and the existing jail location on the public square.
Meanwhile during the public comment period Monday night, several people including Jonathan Bradley, Darcie Cripps, and Kathy Slager, addressed concerns about the county’s perceived direction on the jail issue along with Paul and Jodie Miranda who live on Creekside Drive in the Smith Road neighborhood near where a possible jail location is being considered. Jodie Miranda suggested that the county consider building the jail on the 15-acre county owned transfer station property instead of the locations under consideration on Smith Road and West Main Street.
“My family and I have lived on Creekside Drive in the middle of the Smith Road neighborhood for over 5 years now,” said Paul Miranda. “I’m here with information and voice my total opposition to consideration of the new county jail being built on the Smith Road property located about half a mile directly east of Northside Elementary School. Property originally purchased and approved for annexation into the city limits for a large residential development. Per the city mayor’s office that Smith Road property would not have been annexed into the city for building a jail”.
“I worked in law enforcement for 30 years with two different sheriff’s departments. Three years in two different county’s jails. The rest of my career as a deputy sheriff serving my community and putting criminals in jail. My wife for over 16 years at the same county jail. We have expertise with the types of clienteles that go in and out of a county jail cell and their unpredictability inside and outside of custody. To me, it’s obvious that the Smith Road location is not remotely suitable for a jail or a county complex. But current Tennessee state law allows county governments to buy land and not have to abide by any zoning restrictions as long as they build county facilities on the property. Yes, they can build whatever county government facilities they want”.
“Regardless of current plans talked about, if they later decide to add a county mental health facility or a county drug rehabilitation center, they could. And the notion about ball fields on the same property is just ridiculous. That’s an attempt to put lipstick on a pig and tell us it’s Miss America. As a parent and baseball coach, I’m certain people don’t want to have their kids playing ball right next to a jail”.
“Anyone released from this proposed jail site, would either go through the current residential neighborhoods on Smith Road toward Highway 70, if they don’t wander down other neighborhood streets. Or they go toward Cookeville Highway, into more densely populated and growing parts of the neighborhood, directly to the Northside Elementary School property. This could be every day, morning, noon, and night. I know from experience, not everyone getting out of jail has a ride to pick them up. So, vehicle and pedestrian traffic coming in and out of the area will increase.”
“Such close proximity to an elementary school, already designated for multi-million-dollar expansion to take students from Smithville Elementary should be a disqualifier. In an era of school safety and security to keep kids safer, anything that lowers current school safety and security standards should be rejected right out of the gate. Not one tax dollar should ever be spent that potentially makes a school even one percent less safe”.
“In the last year, six new family homes have been built and sold on West Smith Road. Nineteen more are being built in the next 12 months, designed to attract first time home buyers. With another proposed 120 home development off Twilla Lane. Exactly the kind of growth Smithville city wants. Not the growth the county commission is proposing. Homes close to an elementary school and downtown areas are especially desirable. Being right next to a county jail, not so much”.
“In closing, I hope everyone realizes that this is not just a Smith Road neighborhood, district 4 issue. Its an all of Smithville and DeKalb County issue. This particular decision affects every family with a child or children at Northside Elementary, those who will come from Smithville Elementary, and future parents and families that move into DeKalb County. Its truly a multi-generational decision. So, as a commonsense community, we can send a clear message of NO for this proposed location. As I’ve already said, its not just the Smith Road neighborhood. Its everyone’s neighborhood,” said Paul Miranda.
“I too strongly oppose the plan to purchase property on Smith Road or West Main Street to build a jail in a residential neighborhood, close to a school,” said Jodie Miranda. “A jail on either property would be dangerous for the community’s children and citizens”.
“I’m very familiar with incarcerated individuals and jail overcrowding, after 16 years as a correctional officer in California. I spent five years in the classification unit interviewing inmates and deciding where they should be housed. I’m well aware of the caliber of people arrested and the violent crimes of some county jail inmates. I do not want those citizens near my family or neighbors”
“The jail I worked in was overcrowded, so the court imposed a capacity limit. When the jail hit its max cap, the inmate with the nearest release date would be released early. This was a temporary fix to a permanent problem, so the county looked for property to build a second jail an hour north of the main jail. After years of searching, grant and funding issues, and battles with the community over location, rural acreage was bought in 2008. Fourteen years later, in 2022, the jail finally opened. It was a long process, but the county listened to the citizens’ concerns and found something that everyone agreed upon. They didn’t grab a piece of property that wasn’t a good fit just because the jail had to go somewhere”
“I also worked in the transportation unit, where I transported thousands of inmates to court, to more city and county jails than I care to remember, and every state prison within a six-hour radius. During my nine years of transporting inmates, not once did I encounter a jail or prison that was built in the middle of a residential neighborhood. There’s a reason for that. Its unsafe”.
“A dangerous situation happened while I worked one evening. A fire quickly surrounded the jail, and with no time for handcuffs, close to 300 inmates were evacuated. Unrestrained and escorted by only four officers, they walked over a mile to safety. The route they walked included no residential neighborhoods, and that was due to the county’s wise decision and forethought to build the jail away from homes. Unexpected situations can and will happen”.
“Many issues exist with building a jail on Smith Road or West Main Street. A jail would drastically reduce home values, pose a safety risk for families, diminish privacy, add noise, and bring in undesirable citizens. Traffic would be created by patrol vehicles, staff, and public doing inmate related activities like visitations, bail, and pickups. Northside Elementary School has a lot of traffic, which will increase after adding the new school. A jail, and possibly courtrooms, dispatch center, sheriff’s department, and EMS, built right down the road is an infrastructure nightmare”
“Lastly, please consider building on the 15-acre county owned transfer station property. The city owns a 20 acre parcel with a small portion being used as a dog park and parking lot. The city’s acreage is next to the county transfer station property, and acquiring some of the city’s acreage would add additional land for a jail. You recently discussed selling the county owned property located behind the police station to the city. If the county and the city work together, maybe an agreement could be made that benefits everyone,” said Jodie Miranda.