What to do about the Beaufort County Detention Center returned to the spotlight in 2019.

Since a bid to build a new county jail was ended in 2015, the jail located in the basement of the Beaufort County Courthouse has largely remained out of the public discourse. However, that changed in 2019, when the door-locking system for several of the cell blocks malfunctioned. The outdated system could not be repaired; it could only be replaced for a price tag that included the housing of inmates in facilities outside the county, until all blocks are operating again.

The contract with Montgomery Technology Systems for $772,065 was approved in July by the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners.

“The main thing is that we did try to come up with the best guestimate between (county) finance and (jail administrator) Kat Bryan and myself,” Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Charlie Rose said at the time. “That number is right at $700,000 for six months.”

The total project comes in at $1.5 million.

The housing of inmates as far away as Cabarrus County, as well as transporting inmates to and from court appearances comes at a steep cost: roughly $55 per day, per inmate, and overtime for deputies doing the transporting, according to authorities.

The repair follows major construction in the courthouse in 2018, after officials discovered the courthouse lacked proper fireproofing between its floors, including between the first floor and the basement jail. The cost to repair the courthouse fireproofing and to install a window in the jail — the lack of natural light also a Department of Health and Human Services violation — cost the county $500,000.

The string of repairs, along with several lawsuits filed against the county alleging civil rights violations in that the jail has no exercise/outdoor area, propelled the jail issue back onto the county agenda in 2019. According to Beaufort County Manager Brian Alligood, all three lawsuits center around a state requirement that any inmate, after the 14^th day of confinement, must have the opportunity for physical exercise for an hour a day, at least three days a week. No such opportunity exists in the Beaufort County Detention Center, a facility built in 1969.

Commissioner Jerry Langley, who was instrumental in the county’s previous effort to build a new jail, has requested a referendum vote be held on the 2020 ballot, to let county voters decide whether a new jail should be considered.

“You build a jail out of necessity,” Langley said at an April meeting of the Board of Commissioners. “We’re at that point where we’re just throwing money away.”

In November, a committee was formed to study the jail issue again. The committee, comprised of Langley, Commissioner John Rebholz and Commissioner Frankie Waters, is tasked with the studying the issue from all angles.

“The thought is to explore all the different options, from getting out of the business altogether, … to partnering with another jail, to potentially having to build a new jail,” Rebholz said at the time. “I don’t have any preconceived ideas as to which is the best way out of this.”