Madison Co. commissioners address Juvenile Detention Center overcrowding
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JACKSON, Tenn. — County Commissioners approve nearly $25,000 in additional funding to house inmates at the Madison County Juvenile Detention Center in other counties. “We are having an overcrowding situation at the Juvenile Detention Center that requires us to sometimes send kids to the Murfreesboro detention center to be held while they wait their trial,” Director of Juvenile Court Services for Madison County Amy Jones told WBBJ Tuesday. Officials at the Juvenile Detention Center say they could request around $60,000 more before the end of the county’s fiscal year. The center’s director is hoping for a permanent solution to their problems. “The long-term decision that the county will need to make is do they want a new facility or do they want to try and renovate another facility in the county,” Jones said. Right now, the current detention building needs an estimated $24,000 to fix the gym heater to meet state recreation standards. Some commissioners say it’s not worth the cost and they should consider re-purposing unused space from the Jackson-Madison County School District that’s operating at 62 percent capacity. “There will be some opportunity to consolidate those schools, and then we’ll have hopefully a building that could be renovated for less money than we would have to spend if we built,” County Commissioner Ann Harrell said. Another alternative would be building a new facility, which commissioners say would cost taxpayers between $12 million and $16 million. We reached out to Jackson-Madison County Schools to ask about the possibility of closing a school to address the overcrowding at the Juvenile Detention Center. So far, we have not heard back from the district. Meanwhile, it’s costing the county $175 a day to house each inmate at an out-of-county facility.
