Madison Co. corrections committee meets to discuss jail expansion

JACKSON, Tenn. — Monday marked another step forward in possibly expanding the Madison County Jail.

The Madison County Corrections Committee adopted a contract which outlines Phases 1 and 2 of the planning evaluation for a potential expansion to the jail.

According to county officials, for the past two years they have been under a plan of action with the state because of overcrowding.

“With that plan of action, we have to show the state we are making plans for addressing the issue [of] overcrowding in the jail,” Madison County Mayor Jimmy Harris said.

Funding for this project has to be discussed with the Madison County Financial Management Committee before any numbers are finalized.

“Our finance director says that he feels like we can borrow $30 million on bonds without a tax increase,” Harris said.

He said they are not out to spend $30 million on the facility, but rather that is the capacity with no tax increase.

County Mayor Harris said it is important to address the issue of overcrowding to bring safety to the community and also to continue operating the jail moving forward. “We’ve had probably six studies done, two needs assessments, to determine what our needs are going forward.”

Throughout this planning process, the county mayor said he wants this project to be cost effective for community members.

“The bottom line is we want to address the issues we have in our community, but we want to do it as low cost as we can for the taxpayers of our community,” Harris said.

Tuesday morning, the architectural contract will go to the Madison County Financial Management Committee.