County Council explores jail options

Jason Spencer/JASON.SPENCER@SHJ.COM

From left, Spartanburg County Administrator Glenn Breed, County Council Chairman Jeff Horton, and Councilmen Michael Brown and Dale Culbreth visited a modular building used to house inmates in Charleston County. Lt. Michael Tice with the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, far right, gave the officials a tour.

Running his hand along a wall inside a modular housing unit at the Charleston County jail, Jeff Horton tapped it a few good times and said, "It's pretty solid. You've got to be pretty mean to get through that."

Later, as he stomped his foot a couple of times: "They're a lot more solid than one might think."

Horton, chairman of the Spartanburg County Council, a handful of his colleagues and the Herald-Journal toured the Charleston facility last week in an effort to learn more about the options available to cope with an overcrowded jail.

The plan on the table now would cost $46.1 million - much more than was originally anticipated - and would expand the Spartanburg jail's capacity to 1,136, likely putting it at or even over capacity by the time it's built. Administrators will ask County Council today to vote to change the scope of the project, though Horton said on the ride back from Charleston that any kind of final decision was unlikely until he and his peers finished their research.

Charleston County opened two modular facilities in February, a small respite from its own overcrowding problem. The Charleston jail, which will undergo a $100 million expansion in the next few years, is only supposed to hold about 900 inmates. It actually holds more than twice that.

Together, the two modular buildings cost $4.5 million. They house low- to medium-risk inmates. They came in sections and were assembled on site. Rows of metal beds line the walls, with a social area in the middle. Fences, walkways, heating and air conditioning, and a security system were part of the package.

Still, "You get what you pay for," said Lt. Michael Tice with the Charleston County Sheriff's Office.

Tice fielded questions for about an hour from the Spartanburg delegation, which included Horton, Councilmen Dale Culbreth, Michael Brown and O'Neal Mintz, County Administrator Glenn Breed and Spartanburg jail director Larry Powers. Tice said he was "satisfied, but not overly impressed" with the pre-fabricated buildings.

If Spartanburg chooses to incorporate modular buildings into its jail expansion plan - and Powers said he'd need at least four of them to replace the small but equally overcrowded jail annex across the street from the County Courthouse - last week's field trip provided quite the learning experience.

Tice explained how sinks weren't bolted in correctly, the inside wall panels weren't attached properly and the tile flooring wasn't installed correctly. Indoor/outdoor carpet would have been better, anyway, Tice said, as it helps muffle sound and keep noise down.

Several council members seemed more impressed with an in-house substance abuse program the Charleston County jail offers. Tice said that 80 percent of the inmates who go through the program are not arrested again.

"It's good to see they have something in place … a program, how you deal with the prisoners who come through your facility," Brown said. "That way, you're not just warehousing people."

Horton said he wants to schedule another trip in the next week or so, this time to Mecklenburg County, N.C., where Sprung Instant Structures is completing a building. Sprung's name first entered the jail expansion discussion in early 2007. Outgoing state Rep. Scott Talley's father-in-law provides contacts for the company.

Tice said Charleston looked at Sprung buildings and that they were likely "OK" for strictly the lowest classification of inmate.

"I like what I saw," Horton said as the group left Charleston. "I think it can play a role in our decision-making process. My biggest fear is to complete a facility and be at capacity in two years. That's not efficient government."

Spartanburg County Council will convene its work session, where most of the discussion takes place, at 4 p.m. today in the County Administration Building. The scheduled meeting, which is when the voting takes place, begins at 5:30 p.m.

Several economic incentive packages are on the agenda for new or expanding businesses, including one code named "Project PV."

The council also will receive information regarding this year's property value reappraisal program; hear a presentation on a proposed county-owned water park; and likely take action on revised storm-water management and flood-damage prevention ordinances.