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| Facing tight Budget, Jail looks to alternative funding |
| By Tim Adkins , The Ashland City Times, tennessean.com |
| Published: 05/04/2011 |
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Cheatham County jail officials say there’s a long list of items that need to be repaired or replaced at the jail, and they want to use proceeds from the new commissary service to pay for them. Chief deputy Wendell Nichols and jail administrator Harris Nicholson led members of the county’s budget committee on a tour of the jail last week. Among other things, new security cameras and equipment are needed to replace the existing ones that were installed in the 1990s, the heating and air conditioning units need to be replaced and new prisoner uniforms, mattresses and sheets need to be purchased to replace the aging ones and upgrades are needed to the showers, the two said. Nicholson added that more radios are also needed. “Right now, we have 25 officers and eight don’t have radios,” he said. The county received a grant in 2010 to purchase radios, but there was not enough money to purchase all that was needed. The current jail at the County Courthouse opened in December 1986. While some upgrades have been made through the years, additional repairs are needed on the nearly 25-year-old facility, officials said. Nichols and Nicholson asked the budget committee to allow the sheriff’s department to use money generated from the commissary to help pay for some of these items. The commissary is a sort of “general store” where inmates can purchase items not issued by the jail itself such as snacks, beverages, clothing, stationery, games and personal care and hygiene products. The commissary had been in the works for a number of years and the county was able to launch it earlier this year. The county recently received its first check from the company overseeing the service. The check was for about $2,500. The budget committee agreed last week to consider budget amendments through the remainder of the fiscal year that would allow the sheriff’s department to use the commissary money on jail needs. In the future, the county plans to set up revenue and expenditure line items in the sheriff’s department budget to account for the money. When the money becomes available, Nichols said among the first priorities for the department will be to purchase cameras for the booking area and buying prisoner uniforms and sheets. In other business, the budget committee did not take any action on two other requests from the sheriff’s department. Read More. |
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