GLASGOW — Several members of the community gathered Tuesday evening at the Barren County Fiscal Court meeting to address the court regarding the Barren County Correctional Center.
The court had requested that Keith Sharp, with JKS Architects, present a slideshow presentation laying out how much it would cost the court with different scenarios on the jail.
According to Sharp’s research, to close the jail with 42 inmates would cost the county $867,700 a year. With 62 inmates, it would cost $1,090,350.
To renovate the jail and bring it up to state standards would cost $6.6 million.
To construct a new jail with 180 beds that would be expandable to 360 beds could cost $11.5 million.
Sharp said that from the time of decision to the end of building, construction of a jail could take two years.
“These are decision-making numbers, giving a plus or minus 10 percent error because the math gets very complicated and it’s all based on projections,” Sharp explained.
The court looked at pictures of the run-down jail and listened to comments from members of the community, including local law enforcement and judges.
Magistrates Tommy Matthews and Carl Dickerson brought up that the court didn’t have to spend almost $7 million all at once.
“We’ve got a pretty good section up there that will hold our county inmates,” Matthews said. “Why don’t we start with the heating and cooling and do this thing in steps? We can move the state prisoners out, do a little at a time and we may wind up in a whole lot better situation than we have.”
Dickerson said they could try one section first.
“I think we need to take half our jail, fix it for 60 prisoners, completely renovate that part and see how it works out,” he said. “If it works out, then do the rest of it.”
Barren County Circuit Court Phil Patton, , told the magistrates to “please come up with an option that keeps a Barren County jail in operation.”
“The option to not have a jail is off the table and I am greatly relieved because we cannot operate an efficient criminal justice system without a jail. What is the best decision, the best use of tax-payer’s resources, that is the decision you all have to make and I’m glad you’re the ones who have to make it and not me,” Patton said.
Howard Siddens, a taxpayer, said that he thinks the decision is pretty simple.
“I think we need a new jail, period,” Siddens said. “Not a revamped junk on a hill, which is what it’ll be if you revamp it. I feel like for the whole county, this thing up on that hill is pretty deplorable. I think we’re stupid to put more money into a bad building. We need a county jail, out in the county. We’ve got county property that the county owns it could be built on. You could do it without raising taxes very much.”
Barren County Judge-Executive Davie Greer advised the magistrates that they needed to think over the options and the court would call a special called meeting sometime next week so a decision could be made on the jail.
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