Tennessee County Jails May Get Relief On Inmate Space
The Tennessee Senate has passed a bill sponsored by state Sen. Steve Southerland designed to help keep Tennessee jails from being decertified by the state over the issue of space requirements for inmates. A similar bill introduced by state Rep. David Hawk, R-5th, of Greeneville, is pending in the State Government Subcommittee of the Tennessee House of Representatives.
The bill … specifies that the state standards for the square footage of cells in new or existing local correctional facilities must be the minimum federal standards required by the “Performance-Based Standards for Adult Local Detention Facilities” of the American Correctional Association (ACA). ACA standards require that local jails provide 35 square feet per inmate. At present, though, local jails in Tennessee have to comply with the more stringent 50-square-feet-per-inmate standard required by the Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI). The standard of 50 square feet per inmate for a single cell was adopted in 1982 by an advisory committee of the TCI …
If a local jail in Tennessee does not meet the TCI standards, the TCI can take away the jail’s state certification. Loss of state certification would leave the local government much more vulnerable to inmate lawsuits. “This measure will make sure that local jails are not decertified, an action which could cost taxpayers millions of dollars,” Southerland said of his bill.
He added, “It also helps save money when new jails are built. For example, where a 500-bed jail in Florida cost $32 million to build, the same facility in Tennessee would cost taxpayers $58 million under the current square footage requirements. Local counties could save as much as 30 percent on new facilities while still meeting minimum standards set by the ACA. I am pleased our state senate has adopted this bill.”
A great deal more detail, especially with regard to the legislation’s affect on Greene County can be found in the Greeneville Sun.
County-State Issues, Overcrowding, Prison and Jail Construction, TN Greene County, Tennessee