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| Ashe OKs 100 Beds in New Jail |
| By The Winston-Salem Journal |
| Published: 01/16/2006 |
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North Carolina Ashe County commissioners voted last week to build a 100-bed jail as part of a $5 million justice center. The current jail, built in the 1970s, has 17 beds and 32 inmates as of last week. Commissioners decided Dec. 5 on the site of a new justice center. They voted then to spend $750,000 to buy 6.7 acres on the west side of the Ashe County Courthouse. The justice center will include the jail, the Ashe County Sheriff's Office, a communications center, magistrate offices and space for the Highway Patrol, the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles and the State Bureau of Investigations. Commissioners had considered a range of 70 to 200 beds for the jail section before voting 4-1 on 100 beds. The projected cost is for the entire justice center. Commissioner Richard Calhoun voted against the number of beds, as he had voted against buying the property, saying that it would hurt the neighborhood beside it. He owns a home in the neighborhood, according to tax records. He wanted the jail built on the east side of the courthouse or on land in front of the courthouse, where the county would have had to condemn up to six homes. He also said that a regional idea might work, with surrounding counties cooperating to build a large jail. Commissioner Judy Porter Poe said that people near the east courthouse site wouldn't have liked it there either, and she wouldn't vote to condemn anybody's property for the justice center. In several meetings and visits to jails, the commissioners have hashed out other details. The east side site is too small for the planned jail, an architect told them, without making it multiple stories, which would require more elevators, leading to higher costs and decreased safety. |
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