Detention center faces dilemmas

Editor’s note: This is the second installment of a two-article series on the Beaufort County Detention Center. The first article was published Sunday.

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To serve as a detention officer in the Beaufort County jail, one must be part juggler, part mathematician and constantly vigilant. Processing inmates often has the complexity of an algebra word problem: if inmate A posts bond at 9 p.m. and inmate B arrives at 7 p.m., how long will inmates A and B occupy the holding cell?

The answer seems relatively simple until one actually witnesses such an event. If Inmate A is male and Inmate B is female, they cannot occupy the same holding cell at all, nor can juveniles and adults. This extends to members of different gangs as well.

If any of these situations arise, the most newly arrived inmate has to be processed into the general jail population, unless his or her bond is posted immediately — because there is only one holding cell in the entire facility. The same holds true for psychotic or medically ill inmates, though it’s further compounded because moving them into the general population is not an option. Their only option is to be processed and put in segregated cells — one for female inmates, two for male inmates. If those cells are occupied, often inmates must be sent to other counties, which is called “safekeeping,” the charge for which is paid by Beaufort County.

Of more concern is the amount of space in which all this takes place. In less than 500 square feet, one can find inmates being processed, another inmate being handcuffed and shackled before transfer to a court and attorneys consulting with clients in the open hall if the client-attorney room is occupied. In the middle of all that are civilians, standing at the two narrow visitation windows or the fingerprinting machine. The number of people in the small space, combined with the public mixing with inmates, provides ample opportunity for chaos — chaos that could lead to assault and injury.

If the processing area seems chaotic, the cellblocks are claustrophobic. A three-foot-wide hallway separates the narrow grid of cellblocks, their sharp corners preventing detention officers from seeing into the cellblocks and anything occurring within the cells. Before Lexan glass was installed on the exterior bars of the cellblocks, officers were regularly assaulted by inmates, which led to excessive turnover in jail employees, according to jail officials. It remains unclear as to whether the Lexan glass will stay, however, as the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has indicated the polycarbonate resin thermoplastic may be a fire hazard.

There is no natural light; there is limited space in the “day area” of each cellblock. Though the walls have a somewhat-recent coat of paint, the feel of a dungeon lingers.

“We have blind spots,” said jail administrator Capt. Catrena Ross, who’s held the post for the past two years. “Inmates are smart enough to time rounds. We cannot see inside the cells. We have probably a 40-percent visual.”

Even with the upgraded monitoring system that feeds constant visual into a central command center, at any given time up to 60 percent of the jail and its occupants are out of view, which increases the risks of inmate assaults on other inmates, particularly when the lights go out at 11 p.m., jail officials said.

Since Ross became jail administrator, she’s done what she can to create more space by moving her office offsite and to protect her officers by increasing shifts from three people to four people and implementing a zero tolerance policy. But even with the additional preventative measures, the safety concerns remain.

“We’re wide open,” Ross explained.

Questions vs. answers

For 39 years, there have been more questions than answers when it comes to the Beaufort County jail: expansion versus new construction, where, when, and how to build, and above all, how to pay for it.

In previous years, the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners has considered alternatives to the existing Beaufort County jail and the prospect of replacing it in the long run. In 2005, a proposal to move the jail to the shopping center at 15th Street and North Pierce Street was discussed. Three years later, commissioners met with experts in the jail-construction field to explore options and toured Craven County’s jail, a facility that eliminated the need to transport inmates to court appearances by including a courtroom in that jail’s construction. But momentum came to a halt when the national economy collapsed. Local governments were forced to use their fiscal resources as they struggled to acclimate to the new economic normal.

“Now we’re at a point where we can’t wait for the economy,” said Superior Court Judge Wayland Sermons Jr. “The jail is the No. 1 issue in Beaufort County right now.”

Sermons has concerns the county could face legal action on a Federal level if a new jail is not built soon. As a member of the eight-person committee recently named by Beaufort County Manager Randell Woodruff, Sermons, along with District Attorney Seth Edwards, District Court Judge Michael Paul, Sheriff Alan Jordan, County Commissioners Hood Richardson, Al Klemm, and Jerry Langley, and jail administrator, Capt. Catrena Ross, will be studying the jail issue in coming months.

While Sermons is looking for immediate action, Woodruff is taking a much more cautious approach.

“We want it to be a well-done, well-thought-out process that the community will support,” Woodruff said. “I think taking two to three years to decide the where, when, how … it’s got to be a wise use of public funds. We don’t want to punish the taxpayers with the current economic situation.”

“You have to look at future needs,” said Commissioner Hood Richardson about the ongoing debate of where to build and how big to build a new jail. “The biggest issue in leadership right now is the philosophy of crime. How much crime do you want? If you want less crime, you have to build a bigger facility.”

The first step to continue the conversation was made when the county formed the panel and included the voices of those who work with the existing jail on a daily basis. Currently, Beaufort County’s commissioners plan to have more discussions in January to clarify what the panel should accomplish, then charge the committee as to how to proceed.

For the sheriff’s office and detention officers, they will continue to “do the best we can with what we have.” Every day the safety of detention officers, inmates and the public is maintained, the general consensus is that they’ve dodged a bullet.

But according to Sheriff Alan Jordan, until a new facility is built, that bullet is coming — it’s not a matter of if, but when.