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County juvenile detention center could be in the works

Published Thursday, November 19, 2009 1:18 PM

By Jenny Peterson
Summerville Journal Scene ®

The county is now exploring turning the current county jail in St. George into a juvenile detention facility and moving the adult prisoners to a facility closer to Summerville.

Those were both recommendations by Dorchester County Sheriff L.C. Knight to Dorchester County Council members at a meeting Monday.

The council budgeted $300,000 this year to study options for the future of the overcrowded jail, and members are now taking a hard look at their options.

In addition to discussing ideas for relocating the jail, the council discussed bringing a juvenile detention facility to the county.

The consensus was that if a juvenile facility is realized, it would be located in the women’s wing of the current jail in St. George and the adult prisoners would be moved to another location.

The county doesn’t currently have a juvenile detention center and deputies have to transport juveniles who are not immediately released to their parents to a facility in Columbia.

The sheriff’s department pays the juvenile facility in Columbia $65 per day for each juvenile, and an officer is out of service for four hours making the drive there and back, Knight said. He said 26 young detainees were driven to Columbia during the month of October. He noted that Charleston County has a juvenile detention center but it is always full.

The sheriff is in favor of turning the St. George jail into a juvenile detention center. He said nearby counties that don’t have juvenile centers, such as Berkeley, Hampton, Allendale and Colleton counties, could use the St. George facility and pay the department $65 per night to house each juvenile.

“I wouldn’t be a cash cow, but it will offset (some) expenses,” Knight said.

Knight said that by law, juvenile detainees can not hear or see adult prisoners and said the St. George jail is not big enough to hold both adults and juveniles.

Whether or not the juvenile detention center is realized, council members are still looking into options for relocating the jail.

It is currently 100 prisoners over capacity and repeatedly fails inspections from the Department of Corrections because of overcrowding, Knight said.

Possible new locations for the jail include: a site in Ridgeville across from the Lieber State Prison, the site of the old county courthouse located on Ridge Street in St. George and the site of the new county courthouse on Highway 78.  

Knight recommended the county build a new jail on the site near the state prison, closer to Summerville than its current location.

“Seventy to 80 percent of my work is here (in Summerville),” Knight said. “The future is not going to change that.”

If a new jail is built there, then the department could close it’s Summerville annex, Knight said. Five officers man the annex at all times as a holding cell for people arrested in the area.

However, that plan comes with high costs. Council members estimated a new jail would cost upwards of $20 million.

County Administrator Jason Ward said the county would have to vote on general obligation bonds in order to build a new prison.

There were also issues with the other locations. The old county courthouse building on Ridge Street is in too poor condition to house prisoners, and was not built to stand seismic activity, such as an earthquake.

“The building is not reinforced,” Ward said. He added that it had major plumbing issues, lead-based paint and asbestos problems.

While the county would not spend money purchasing the land, Ward said security is an issue, since the site is near a heavy wooded area.

There are also concerns with relocating the jail next to the new courthouse on Highway 78. Council members discussed building it next to the courthouse with an elevated walkway or underground tunnel to easily transport prisoners to court.

While this option would save money by not using officers’ time or police cars to escort prisoners to court, Ward said nearby residents would not likely be in favor. Also, a new recreational facility is planned for that site, which would not be appropriate near the jail, Ward said.

Even if council members decide not to relocate the jail, the current facility is still in need of some work, council members said.

The women’s detention center was recently built, but other wings need to be structurally evaluated, council members said. Ward was instructed by the council to look into the logistics of all the ideas discussed, including the juvenile facility. Ward said the county may look into hiring a consultant to help evaluate options.

Ward said the study will look at the total cost and long-term savings with each idea, and will be presented at a later date.

Contact Jenny Peterson at 873-9424 ext. 216 or JPeterson@journalscene.com.

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