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| Unused jail affects county's agencies |
| By addisonindependent.com - addisonindependent.com |
| Published: 06/07/2012 |
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MIDDLEBURY, VT — The Addison County Sheriff’s Department (ACSD) could soon be advertising some rooms for rent, though they are the kind that people want to avoid staying in if they can. At issue are 22 beds in the ACSD jail, which since mid-May has been vacant due to the expiration of a 15-year contract with the United States Marshals Service. That contract enabled the ACSD to secure $890,000 to substantially renovate the Court Street jailhouse and offices during the late 1990s. It also allowed the department to employ five full-time jailers to supervise federal detainees awaiting trial for various offenses, ranging from white collar crimes to drug trafficking. Along with being a source of local jobs, the ACSD jail also provided free night-shift dispatching for five area fire departments and a no-cost detainment venue for local offenders awaiting arraignment at the Addison County Courthouse. But the end of the U.S. Marshals contract has forced interim ACSD Sheriff Don Keeler to close the jail and lay off the jailers who had been staffing it. Moreover, the closing of the jail has forced state and local police departments to shuttle those they arrest to correctional facilities in Rutland or Burlington, thereby taking them away from other duties. And the volunteer fire departments in Cornwall, Whiting, Bridport, Salisbury and Ripton have had to transfer their dispatching to the town of Shelburne. Cornwall Fire Chief Dennis Rheaume said the switch means his department will now be charged $30 every time they are toned out by Shelburne dispatch. “The taxpayers will have to absorb it,” Rheaume said. “It’s a big change; we were getting (the dispatching) for free.” Keeler, a longtime ACSD deputy who has been fulfilling the duties of sheriff since the death of James Coons on April 16, would like to put the jail back into circulation. But he explained that the U.S. Marshals Service is no longer interested in the Addison County jail in light of an alternative corrections space in New Hampshire. “During the past 15 years, the marshals’ demand for beds has decreased, and they opened a new facility in New Hampshire,” Keeler said. “So it really made the demand … for the small lock-ups minimal.” Keeler, suddenly thrust into the sheriff’s role, had to make some quick decisions. Read More. |
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