By Kirsten Fiscus
The Anniston Star, Ala.
CALHOUN COUNTY, Ala. — In the main women’s barracks at the Calhoun County Jail, there are 48 beds. At any given time, about double that number of women sleep there.
“It’s bad,” Calhoun County Sheriff Matthew Wade said earlier this month as the jail administrator, Eric Starr, unlocked the door to the room.
“Male on the floor,” Starr announced as he entered the 1,800-square-foot room. Many of the women remained motionless or asleep save for a few who perked up to hear what the sheriff was saying.
Six women lay on green mats atop tables, while another eight lay on their mats on the floor around them. Many more took up floor space between the sets of bunk beds. Letters, photographs and holiday cards were taped to the walls and twine ran between bunks to hang laundry.
“This ain’t right,” Wade said. “We are in desperate need of more facilities.”
The jail’s infrastructure is aging, there aren’t enough correctional officers to properly staff it and the number of inmates continue to increase, the sheriff said. To fix the jail or build a new one would cost millions, one Calhoun County commissioner said, and there is no way to fund it at the moment.
“Our backs are against a wall,” Commissioner Tim Hodges said. “We need help from our legislators to do this and we need help from all of Calhoun County.”
‘I can’t turn anyone away’
The Calhoun County Jail, where it sits now on the southwest edge of downtown Anniston, was built in 1986 at a cost of $6 million, according to news accounts from the time. It was initially built to hold 140 inmates, had air conditioning, and corrections officers could open and close doors electronically.
Those blue instrument panels, with large knobs and small lights that control doors and a speaker system, are still in service. But now they’re worn and the paint is flaking in places. In the tower that overlooks the eight pods in the men’s wing, there’s often one corrections officer, pacing from one side of the room to the other to push those buttons.
Each of those eight cell blocks were meant to hold 30 inmates, Wade said.
“We’ve probably got closer to 50 or 60 in each of them depending on the block,” he said.
In July, Wade said, the inmate population reached an all-time high — 579.
“Can we fit 600 in here?” Wade said. “Probably not, but I won’t have a choice if it gets to that point. By law I can’t turn anyone away.”
As the jail population has grown, it has become increasingly harder to strategically place inmates in a cell. Inmates are placed in cell blocks based on the status of their case, Wade said.
“We’ve got people who are awaiting trial, those that have been sentenced to time in the jail and federal inmates,” he said.
Pre-trial inmates are further divided based on the type of crime.
“Capital murder defendants are in maximum security,” he said. “People charged with sex offenses are in the yellow pod. We can’t put them in general population because they will get beat up.”
If two inmates are charged in the same case, they can’t be in the same cell block either, the sheriff said.
“You can see how it gets complicated and difficult to place these people where they will be safe,” he said.
One of the fastest growing populations in the jail is women, Wade said.
“Women used to be in one of the men’s pods, but they outgrew that too,” he said.
In 2004, the current women’s wing was added to the jail, paid for with money the Sheriff’s Office receives in exchange for housing federal inmates. The women’s section was built next to the booking area. To get to it, jailers have to unlock a chain-link gate, walk past inmates who are on suicide watch, and unlock a heavy metal door that unveils a long hallway.
Ten doors, each with a small window, line the hallway.
“This is our maximum security for the women,” he said. “They each have two beds but not everyone on this hall can have a roomate.”
At the end of the hall, opening another heavy door revealed the general population housing area, where women talking on the telephones were within feet of some sleeping. The close quarters can create hazardous situations for inmates and correctional officers who Wade said are “woefully underpaid.”
“You could see how tempers could flare in here,” Wade said. “They’re packed in here. There’s bound to be some tension.”
Options
Two years before the current jail was built, Calhoun County voters agreed to a one-cent sales tax for 18 months to pay for the jail, and state legislators later that year passed a bill to approve that plan.
Hodges said the County Commission in the 1980s didn’t have much choice in the matter, though. In 1978 former jail inmates filed a class-action lawsuit against county officials. The suit sought relief from overcrowded conditions in the jail, attached to the Calhoun County Courthouse, that were described as hazardous and unsanitary.
In 1982, as an agreement in a settlement for the suit, U.S. District Judge James Hancock issued an order that the county government improve jail conditions, including overcrowding, or the federal government would force the county to, according to reports from the time.
“We’ve got to get a handle on our current situation before it gets to that point again,” Hodges said. “The jail is certainly one of the biggest issues the County Commission faces.”
Earlier this year, the commission requested a feasibility study to look at options for the jail. In April, a Montgomery-based architecture firm presented an option to renovate the existing building to the council.
There’s ample space to expand the jail on its current site, Hodges said. According to a proposed plan created by the architecture firm, it would cost a minimum of $33 million to renovate the current building and to expand.
“This is just one option,” Hodges said. “Nothing has been decided.”
Wade said that based on inmate population projections, the firm drafted a jail plan that would hold 845 beds by design and 1,061 at maximum capacity. To do that, the firm suggested building another new female unit seven times bigger than the current one, turning all of the current male cells into maximum-security cells and building a two-story section for minimum- and medium-security male inmates.
Hodges said if the commission chose to renovate and expand some of the suggested changes would likely go by the wayside to save money.
“We’ve not scrutinized this in its entirety yet,” Hodges said. “Again, this is just one option.”
The commission could choose to start anew, like the county government did 35 years ago.
“Logistically speaking, it would make sense to put the jail closer to the courthouse,” three blocks northeast, Hodges said. “It would cut down on transport to and from the jail, which is an increasing cost. Because we have so many inmates we’re constantly shuttling them to and from the jail, which costs money and manpower.”
In a perfect world, Hodges said, the county would have one metro jail to house inmates charged with both misdemeanors and felonies.
“A lot of counties have gone to that model,” he said.
‘Something needs to be done’
Even with a few steps in the right direction, Hodges said, none of it will matter if the commission can’t find funding for it.
“We’re very dependent on the Legislature,” the commissioner said, explaining that they’ll likely have to propose a tax like the commission did in the 1980s.
Hodges and Wade both, however, recognize that swaying people’s opinions on a tax increase will be difficult.
“Most people don’t have any contact with the jail,” Wade said. “Most people don’t care about it until they are personally affected by it so why would people want to pay more in taxes for something that they don’t have any dealings with?”
Hodges said he felt the best way to sway public opinion about the issues with the jail were to be open and honest about them.
“I urge anyone to go take a tour,” Hodges said. “Go see for yourself.”
Wade said the invitation is open to any group whose members want to take a peek inside the jail.
“I’m not here to hide anything,” the sheriff said. “I’m here to do what’s right by these people.”
In the meantime, court officials have worked diligently to reduce the jail population when they could, Hodges said.
“Our judges have done about all they can,” he said. “We’ve got as many programs as possible and as many people out on GPS monitoring as we can.”
Circuit judges in the past six months have urged prosecutors and attorneys to either set trial dates or make plea agreements in many cases. Recently, Circuit Judge Debra Jones set two capital murder cases that have been pending for years to go to trial in 2018. Jones said she and the other judges hope to try 13 murder and capital murder cases next year.
Wade said during a community meeting recently that he’s hoping to work with a civil rights organization to help inmates, in the jail for failing to pay child support, get out and get jobs. That would help alleviate a small percentage of the inmate overcrowding, he said.
“We’re trying to do everything we can,” he said.
Even if funding was approved for the project this year, Hodges said, it likely wouldn’t begin for several years.
“We’re coming up on an election year,” he said. Hodges and the rest of the commission will be up for election. Wade’s office will also be on the ballot.
“Most people don’t want to rock the boat too much before an election,” Wade said. “I think it’s better to be transparent and show that I’m trying to find a solution.”
Hodges said that with any election there’s the possibility some members of the current commission could lose their seats.
“While we have a consensus right now that something needs to be done, we could have some new faces after the election that don’t feel the same,” he said.
©2017 The Anniston Star (Anniston, Ala.)