Lawrence County reviews jail population, revenue and safety upgrades

Lawrence County commissioners reviewed jail population counts, expected revenue and several ongoing safety and booking-system upgrades during a routine meeting, county officials said.

Deputy Simmons said, "This morning, we have a 152 inmates at the Lawrence County Jail. We've got 8 juveniles. Some of them juveniles are from Westmoreland, 1 from Fayette. We've got 23 inmates out at other facilities for court purposes or for separation purposes, and, we're currently housing approximately 20 from out of county. And we have 11 Washington County females." Later in the discussion Simmons clarified the county had taken in 16 females from Washington County within the last week.

The population report was followed by an update on expected revenue and a planned live-scan rollout. Deputy Simmons said "The total expected revenue as of June 1 will be $897,250. That is currently billed and outstanding, amounts. The current revenue we're having right now is estimated about $6,000 per day." Simmons said the department has scheduled a training for the live-scan machine "for Tuesday of next week" that will be "the final approval of the machine and our first training," with broader staff training to follow.

Officials also discussed building and safety issues at the jail. Commissioners and staff said the elevator repair has been under active pursuit for months but vendors are difficult to secure; one commissioner noted the county has been working with "Mr. Venasco" on the issue and emphasized that "Number 1 priority is safety of the employees and safety of the prisoners." The discussion did not produce a vote or formal contract award during the meeting.

County staff gave a report on radios and duress measures. A county staff member referred to as Bob said the county "recently upgraded our radio system from analog to digital just a few months ago" and estimated the cost at "$26,000." Bob added, "So at the moment, I'm not recommending any change of radios we consider if we just upgraded a few months ago." Commissioners noted the radios were digital "which was recommended by the district attorney." Deputy Simmons and other staff described efforts around duress buttons, including an administrative memo reminding staff to wear duress devices and that "Temporary duress buttons are to be given out to to visitors."

Procedural items at the meeting produced three formal votes. A motion to approve the minutes of the May 29 meeting was made by Controller Preston and seconded by President Judge Cox; the roll call returned a unanimous vote to approve. A motion to approve the bills was made by the sheriff and, after a roll call, the motion passed unanimously. Finally, the board voted unanimously to adjourn into a short executive session for a confidential legal matter; the motion to adjourn was made by the sheriff and seconded by the controller.

No new policy decisions or procurement awards were finalized at the meeting; staff described ongoing work on the live-scan training, vendor outreach for elevator repairs, radio upgrades completed months earlier and administrative steps to increase duress-device compliance.