Business reports prisoners harassed staff near justice center; commissioners consider interim fencing and new-jail timeline

A business owner at Ridge Coffee House recently told Commissioner Brian Crook that prisoners from a CoreCivic transport were shouting at her staff outside the business while deputies did not intervene, prompting commissioners at a work session to discuss interim safety measures and the timetable for a new jail.

The complaint, brought to the commission by Commissioner Brian Crook, prompted discussion about short-term mitigations such as fencing and access controls and longer-term changes tied to a proposed new criminal justice facility. "The guards just threw up their hands and said there's nothing we can do about them yelling at you," Crook recounted, quoting the business owner.

The matter matters to the business owner and other local merchants because, as Crook relayed, the visible line of prisoners and the public—s proximity raise safety and dignity concerns. Crook said the owner told him the incident left her "totally against" locating a jail on the corner near the park and that "they have direct access to the public." He also warned about potential contraband or weapons and said, "All they gotta do is pass off a firearm, pass off anything they wanna do, and it's it's war games over there."

Commissioner Gulley suggested physical barriers as an interim step. "You can put a a chain link 7 to 10 foot fence relatively cheap and add ... those gates could be put on or you can put a gate up that's manual. Manual. You can put a gate up that's, motorized," he said, describing options including privacy slats and gate controls to reduce visibility and access.

County elected officials also discussed the timeline for building a new jail. According to the commission—s account of project timetables, if the county authorized work now it could be about a year before construction could start and roughly three years before completion. "If we said today go with it, it would be a year before they could start ... So you're probably looking at 3 years before it would be completed," the commission was told during the session.

County leadership framed immediate responsibility with the sheriff—s office. The County Mayor said, "I think that would be a sheriff's department issue and and certainly needs to be handled with sheriff. And so I'll make him aware of it from my office," and added that exposure to the public should be addressed in the design of the new jail: "The way they're building jails now, there's no exposure like that. That ... that'll be addressed with new jail."

No formal motion or vote was taken on the matter during the work session. Commissioners said they would not start a prolonged debate at the meeting; instead, the mayor said he would notify the sheriff—s office and the concern will be addressed through the appropriate channels. The commission did not adopt any interim policy or appropriate funding for fencing at the meeting.