Daniel Kennedy
The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
ASHEBORO, N.C. — The Randolph County Jail has a capacity of 211 inmates, but data provided by the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office reveals a more grisly reality for jailers and inmates confined inside the jail’s walls.
Across a four-month period from October 2018 to January 2019, the average daily population of the jail ran 304.7, 274.3, 285.9 and 303.2 inmates, respectively. According to Sheriff Greg Seabolt, this overcrowding and the scarcity of employees to staff the jail leaves the sheriff’s office seeking answers to ensuring the safety of those inside the facility.
Based on a jail staffing analysis conducted by Todd Davis of Mosley Architects, Seabolt said the facility is 41 detention officers short.
“Our facility is only big enough to adequately house so many inmates,” Seabolt said. “We want to make it as safe as possible for inmates and our staff.”
This prompted the sheriff to take his requests before the Randolph County Board of Commissioners last month during the board’s annual retreat. He requested 16 new jailer positions, which would represent a starting point. Dangers for jailers would be mitigated by dividing the number of inmates each must monitor.
The sheriff said the opioid epidemic has caused many of the shortages at the jail. According to Seabolt, the Randolph County drug interdiction team is arresting a large number of individuals on drug-related crimes, and it is filling the jail.
“The drug problem has created a big problem for us, but we’re going to handle it day by day,” Seabolt said. “We don’t want to put our inmates and jail staff in a much more hazardous situation than what they already (experience).
“We’re going to go shortly and look at our needs and prioritize them. The first priority is the jail.”
Once inside the jail, the sheriff’s office is finding the problems for its inmates only continue. Drugs found when inmates are processed or once they are in custody is reportedly quite high. The department’s statistics indicate 22 grams of meth have been found in the jail since 2018.
Additionally, assaults and other alterations have been an issue inside the jail. Medical staff advised there have been 176 inmate-on-inmate assaults/altercations at the jail from June to December 2018.
To combat these issues, Seabolt requested the addition of a sworn investigator position. This person would be responsible for helping eradicate the drug problem inside the jail and would respond to reports of assault.
The aforementioned 16 additional detention officers would also allow for a Cell Extraction Response Team (CERT). A CERT is a group of trained officers tasked with responding to incidents, riots, cell extractions, mass searches or disturbances in prisons or jails.
According to the sheriff, any number of inmates in excess of the safety threshold are sent to detention centers in nearby counties. An estimated 25 Randolph County Jail inmates are currently housed at other detention centers, costing the county $50 per day, per inmate.
“It’s costing us a lot to do that, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to get by,” Seabolt said.
Seabolt said the issues are many, but the county commissioners are working with the sheriff’s office to address the needs. The following is a breakdown of total costs, including salaries and equipment, of requested positions inside the jail.
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©2019 The High Point Enterprise (High Point, N.C.)