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| High Costs Stifle Plans to Shore Up N.C. Jail Safet |
| By Associated Press / Charlotte Observer |
| Published: 05/02/2003 |
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State lawmakers and safety advocates wasted little time calling for sprinkler systems and other safety measures in North Carolina jails after last year's fatal Mitchell County jail fire. But when some cost estimates came in at $200 million, lawmakers were left trying to figure out how to fix the state's jails at a reasonable price. A bill that would have required every local government to hire an engineer and architect to inspect and bring jails to code was dropped April 23, partially due to cost. In its place came a proposal requiring inspectors in the N.C. Division of Facility Services to assess jails and compare them to four sets of state and international building codes. Those same inspectors already examine jails every six months. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Phillip Frye, R-Mitchell, said there's not enough money to retrofit old jails with more advanced safety features, such as electronic doors and ventilation systems. 'Some of these jails were built in the '20s, '30s and '40s and it just wasn't cost effective,' said Frye, whose new proposal was endorsed by a local government committee in the state House. He said he wanted the state to take on the new inspections because he didn't want to burden county governments already struggling financially. Eight inmates died of smoke inhalation when fire broke out May 3 in a shed attached to the Mitchell County jail. Jailers and rescue workers could not reach the inmates and the men couldn't get out because each cell door had to be manually opened. Family members of some of the victims said Frye's bill isn't enough. 'Their neglect killed my son with their state inspectors and their county inspectors. We try to get legislation after eight people died, and then the legislature says we can't have all this safety stuff in the jails,' said Mark Thomas, father of Mark Halen Thomas, a 20-year-old inmate who died in the fire. Thomas recently filed a claim with the N.C. Industrial Commission, alleging that a state inspector failed to detect potential fire hazards in the Mitchell County Jail. The N.C. Labor Department fined Mitchell County and said that inspectors failed to detect 'serious safety deficiencies' in its jail. The county agreed to a $1.94 million settlement with inmates' families and surviving inmates in January. While counties own and operate jails, the N.C. Division of Facility Services is responsible for inspecting them. The division has examined every jail twice a year since 1967, and the Mitchell County deaths were the first during that time. 'There's a great deal of oversight and scrutiny given,' said Bob Lewis, chief of the N.C. Division of Facility Services' jail section. |
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