TOUGHER LAWS, HIGHER BONDS MAKE FOR MORE CROWDED JAILS

Problems with overcrowding have plagued the Rhea County Jail since 1990,
and Saturdaythe prisoner count reached 111-53 more than the facility is
certified for.

Six years ago, the Rhea County Commission approved about $900,000 to
remodel and build an addition to the jail, Sheriff Leon Sneed said. Now,
the jail needs another addition- a minimum security section that could cost
up to $600,000.

Since the old jail was only certified for 36 inmates, he anticipated the
new /remodeled jail, completed in 2001, would hold about 125-150 inmates.

During the course of designing the additions, the architect planned on
certifying the facility for 65 inmates. However, the architect was
reassigned during the project, and the state decided to certify the
facility for only 58 inmates.

Sneed said though the addition and renovation of the old jail was helpful,
it is not enough. "It leaves us out on a limb here to get beds," Sneed
said. "We have five bed requests in today."

The county's population has grown from about 24,000 to nearly 28,000 since
1990, and Sneed said the growth has contributed to overcrowding problems.

The jail is 5,000 square-feet and has 19 cells, including two drunk tanks
transformed into cells for trustees. It also houses a kitchen, laundry
room, holding cell, utility room and jailers office.

On Wednesday, there were only four inmates who could be sent to federal
custody, and only six who could be transferred to a state facility, still
leaving the jail with about 90 inmates. "I have advised the county
commissioners at [past] public meetings to address the problem," Sneed said.

The county commission did approve four more jailers last year, which Sneed
said was an adequate staff for the jail.

"We need to move inmates in work release and minimum security out of
maximum security cells," Sneed said. "Realistically, we need an addition."

Sneed said most minimum security inmates are those who have driving under
the influence charges, child support non-payment charges, or those who are
allowed "work release."

Also, due to the growing number of methamphetamine cases, Sneed said
inmates who are charged with the drugs have higher bonds that keep them in
jail longer than other inmates.

"We need more room," said Melba Huffman, chief jailer. "A lot of people are
being crammed into one cell. Imagine being cooped up all day in your house."

Huffman said the need for beds is always a concern at the jail. The jailers
must request additional beds- a bunk with a flat mattress-from the
Tennessee Department of Corrections "I have called about two or three times
and [the beds] probably won't come for a couple of weeks," she said.

The overcrowding also contributes to fights among the maximum security
inmates, who share cells with eight other men, Huffman said.

She said the women's facility should hold three inmates per cell and the
men's should hold six per cell. Currently, there are six women per cell and
eight men per cell.

"We probably need 10 more maximum security cells," she said. "A lot of the
people are non-sentenced felons."

There are 12 jailers, including auxiliary officers and court officers,
Huffman said. "It is so crowded we can't hardly walk. It's bad," a female
trustee at the Rhea County Jail said.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she sleeps in the drunk
tank, a cell that has been converted for two women trustees. She said an
expansion of the jail would mean more room for beds and less time to start
trouble in such close living conditions.

The woman has been in the Rhea County Jail since May of 2001.

"We dread when another woman comes in," she said. "And some try to start
trouble. People would be in a better mood if they had more room."

Another Rhea County Jail trustee said since he came to the jail 10 months
ago the population has grown by about 35-40 inmates.

"When the weekenders come in, it gets really crowded. We do not have
adequate bed space for them," he said.

"Weekenders" are inmates who serve out their sentences on weekends. He said
most weekenders have to sleep on mats on the floor.

The 43-year-old trustee shares the men's drunk tank with four other
inmates. Two men sleep on the floor, while two other men sleep on concrete
bunk beds.

"We have people on the floor in about every cell," he said.

The trustee was an inmate at Cumberland County and was held in a bigger
cell with about 24 beds.

"With more room there is less stress and less tension," he said.