Article published March 1, 1991

County council dislikes sound of jail proposal

Hey, we'd love to have 25 spaces in your new jail - and we'll pay you $300,000 to use them during the next 15 years. That's what the U.S. Marshals Service told the Spartanburg County Council in a letter this week.

County officials, however, believe the federal government missed a key point in the county's offer. The county wants to sign a $300,000 contract with the Marshals Service to house up to 25 inmates in a temporary jail, slated to open in two weeks in the remodeled Sullivan Hardware building on Daniel Morgan Avenue. The government also would pay $30 a day for each prisoner it sends there under the plan. Later, the county wants to negotiate a second contract with the Marshals Service to house inmates in a $13.7 million, 240-bed jail to be built off California Avenue.

But instead of talking about the temporary jail, the Marshals Service has offered the county $300,000 for a 15-year lease on spaces in the new jail.

"That's almost insulting," Councilman Danny Allen said at Wednesday's meeting when County Administrator Roland Windham told the council about the government's proposal.

Council members agreed they aren't likely to set aside 25 spaces for federal prisoners in the new jail at a rental rate of $12,000 apiece when it costs $60,000 to build each space.

Negotiating a more profitable long-term agreement with the Marshals Service to house federal inmates would reduce the county's portion of construction costs for the new jail.

Federal inmates awaiting trial in the Upstate are now kept at the Greenville County jail.

The federal money would pay about one-third of the cost of the temporary jail if the county succeeds in getting a contract with the government.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the temporary jail, designed to hold low-risk inmates, is scheduled for March 13. Jail officials will open the building for public tours March 16.