Dougherty County grand jurors take first tour of jail since COVID pandemic struck

ALBANY – For the first time in four years, a Dougherty County Grand Jury got a look at county jail operations, taking a tour of the sprawling facility that is one of the largest expenditures for county governments.

Annual inspections of the jail is one of the responsibilities of grand juries in the state, one that has been curtailed here since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

How massive is the jail? Some of the numbers are eye-opening. The facility, which was built in 1994, encompasses 391,000 square feet, Maj. Pamela Coley told the group of 18 visitors on the jury.

“This building is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” she said. “It never closes, and the lights never go out. What that means for this facility is there is a lot of up-keep.”

Of the $19 million Fiscal Year 2023-2024 budget for the jail, $13 million went toward salaries. The cost of mental health and dental services for inmates totaled $3 million. Electricity for the year totaled $850,000, and food services came in at $650,000.

Inmates receive two hot meals and a sandwich of some type for lunch each day, Coley said. The meals, provided by a food service, cost about $1 each.

After subtracting other expenses, “$1.5 million is left for everything else,” Coley said. That includes clothing and toiletries for inmates, blankets and sheets, and other items supplied.

“We pride ourselves (that) we are good stewards of the money,” Coley said. “If we don’t need it, we don’t buy it.”

On Wednesday, when the grand jurors took their tour, there were about 730 inmates incarcerated. Maximum capacity is 1,230.

One program that helps reduce the number of inmates held is pretrial services. The idea is to allow inmates who are not a threat to the public and cannot afford bail the opportunity to remain free while awaiting trial. That allows those who would otherwise be in jail the chance to continue working and to be involved in their family’s lives.

The pretrial services program, initiated by Col. John Ostrander, who oversees jail operations, is part of the overall goal of reducing the number of inmates who return to the facility. The sheriff’s office has also found that there is a much lower rate of recidivism among those who are released through the pretrial services program.

During a question-and-answer session, one of the jurors said that among the criminal cases they have been hearing during the grand jury session, the majority seem to be instances where someone snapped in a situation. The juror asked what programs are available to help people avoid such reactions.

Another responsibility of the grand jury is hearing presentations on criminal cases and issuing indictments or no-bills, the jurors declaration that there is insufficient evidence to take a case to trial.

Inmates at the Dougherty County Jail have the opportunity to take classes through tablet devices that are assigned to each inmate. Inmates, for example, can work on a GED using the tablets. Those who complete assignments receive benefits, including access to books, videos and games.

The inmates also can use the tablets to communicate with jail officers, make commissary purchases and text with loved ones outside.

“There are a lot of programs, a lot of self-help programs,” Ostrander said. “Inmates have taken more than a million hours of classes … parenting, finance, things they were never taught. Now they’re learning these skills.

“Our goal is if someone comes through that back door with drug addiction, alcohol addiction, doesn’t have a high school diploma, we want them to be able to leave not drug-addicted with a GED. As the sheriff said, this facility is not meant to be a warehouse. We’re going to take all of the opportunities we have to make this community stronger, to make it better.”

About 75% of those incarcerated in the jail are awaiting trial, while the remainder are serving misdemeanor sentences of a year or less or have been convicted of a felony and are awaiting transfer to a state facility.

About 35% of inmates have a mental health diagnosis, compared to about 10% of the general population in the community, Ostrander said.

“The drug problem, the mental health problem and the homeless problem are all intertwined,” he said.

One area that could stand improvement is getting inmates with mental health conditions out of the jail and into treatment facilities where they can receive the help they need, Sheriff Kevin Sproul said. Unfortunately, the state has cut those services in recent years.

“The onus is on you and me,” he said.

During the tour, the jurors made their way through the jail and got a look at operations, from the time an inmate is brought in by a law enforcement agency. Officers explained what inmates experience from intake, the issuing of jump suits and what the various colors of those jump suits indicates.

They also viewed jail cells and equipment used.

After the tour, juror Jim Varner said he was impressed by what he had seen, particularly the efforts taken to assist inmates.

“In the front end, the sheriff’s office works to help people out,” he said. “That’s important. If you get them young, you can turn them around. It’s good to see what they’re doing for the inmates.”

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]