By C1 Staff
LINCOLN COUNTY, Ala. — An Alabama county jail built to originally hold 118 inmates is now expanding, much to the sheriff’s chagrin.
“A sheriff is never happy to see a jail expanded,” Lincoln County Sheriff Murray Blackwelder told WHNT. “It goes to show the moral decline of our country when you get right down to it.”
Though the expansion is an unwanted necessity to keep up with demand, the money is going to making officers’ jobs safer and allowing more streamlined visitation.
“There will be a computer monitor on the wall,” Sheriff Blackwelder said, pointing to a space on the wall in the inmates’ living quarters. “And their visitor will line up front in the video visitation room. This takes worry away from moving inmates and scheduling visits. We will be able to get more visits in a shorter amount of time.”
The dorm style living quarters, expanding the women’s facility to 65 and the men’s to 200, offer an open concept with bunk beds for inmates. The area will be used as a benefit for inmates exhibiting good behavior.
“The inmates in the new part of the jail will be working inmates and inmates that want to contribute back,” the sheriff said. “This is for the inmates that don’t want to cause trouble.”
A lookout room is included in these areas for officers to keep tabs on inmates at all times. The overlook joins all dorms together with windows for continuous security.
Combative and difficult inmates will be resigned to the older part of the jail, which Sheriff Blackwelder says has lockdown capabilities.
The expansion started in December 2014 and is expected to be completed this November.