Update 4-14-25 at 11;30 p.m.
In a special called meeting held Monday afternoon, the Vance County Board of Commissioners took steps to move forward with repairs to the existing jail and construction of a new detention center, but are still wrestling with issues of having too many detainees and too few staff – both of which fall far below state expectations to rectify the problems.
Commissioners approved a proposal from County Manager C. Renee Perry to pay current staff $50 an hour on top of their regular hourly rate in an effort to get them to work additional hours at the jail and help close scheduling gaps – at least for the next two pay periods.
Three additional people per 12-hour shift would be needed to comply with the state’s mandate for staffing, which would result in about $69,000 in extra pay and benefits per month. There’s money already in the budget, so no budget amendment would be needed at this time.
Perry also recommended that the minimum salary for detention officers be bumped up one pay grade, effective immediately, from about $40,000 to about $42,000.
This move helps to make Vance County more competitive with surrounding counties, but Perry said it will affect more staff pay because when you shift one grade you have to shift the entire detention series.
The problems at the detention center aren’t new, and they aren’t a surprise to county leaders. But finding solutions has proven to be complicated, and long-term solutions are elusive.
As of Monday, the county has failed to meet not one, but two, deadlines to comply with state mandates – to significantly reduce the number of detainees in the detention center and to address staffing shortages.
Perry said the county received a second letter from the state on Friday, Apr. 11 stating that the sheriff’s office must submit by 5 p.m. on Monday a list of 20 additional staff members who would be filling in those staffing gaps.
Maj. William Mitchell, interim administrator jail, frankly informed commissioners that creating and submitting that list isn’t quite as simple as writing 20 names on a piece of paper.
“It is physically impossible to have that done by 5 o’clock,” Mitchell said.
And although the sheriff’s office has made headway in whittling down the number of detainees – 77 have been moved to six counties across the state with another 10 scheduled to be moved soon – it still is far from the maximum of 20.
There were 81 detainees in the jail as of Friday, Apr. 11 – down from 178, Mitchell noted. As of Monday, the number had crept up to 87.
Mitchell introduced Maj. Kevin Staton as the new detention center administrator, effective next Monday and mentioned several other additions to staff rosters. Again, it’s a step toward filling the 30 or so vacancies, but there’s still a long way to go.
“Staffing is still a huge issue,” Mitchell told commissioners. “If we can’t get COs (correction officers) to come in on their days off, I don’t know what the next step is going to be.”
With three staff recently dismissed and an additional resignation late last week, the jail is short between 24 and 26 staffers. Sheriff Curtis Brame said his office needs between 8 and 10 additional officers to be fully staffed.
The Apr. 1 letter spelled out five areas of corrective action, including the depopulation of the jail, staffing deficiencies, supervision schedules, contraband and repairs.
Mitchell reported to commissioners that C Dorm is now empty and county staff have already taken a look to see what repairs can be made as a stopgap measure until the more comprehensive repairs using the “design/build” model can be implemented.
Although Perry assured commissioners that the county would continue to tackle repairs on the lengthy “to-do” list, she does not want to make repairs that ultimately would need to be done again.
“I just don’t want to spend a lot of money on things that may not be done correctly,” or not in accordance with recommendations from the design/build team, she said.
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Original Update 4-11-25 at 5:30 p.m.
With the state’s deadline now passed to drastically depopulate the Vance County Detention Center, Sheriff Curtis Brame said he and his office continue to look for places for the detainees to be relocated, but it hasn’t been an easy task.
Insufficient staffing and serious deficiencies in the physical facility prompted the state to issue the corrective action that included moving out more than 100 detainees to other facilities.
As of Friday morning – one day past the Apr. 10 deadline to reduce the jail population from more than 140 to 20 – Brame told WIZS News that there were fewer than 90 individuals still housed at the detention center.
Brame said he is working with other sheriffs to relocate more detainees, but other jails also face at-capacity or over-capacity censuses.
It’s not as simple as moving detainees from one place to another, he said. Detainees haven’t been convicted of crimes; they are in custody awaiting trial and cannot be housed in exactly the same space with individuals who have been convicted of crimes.
The Vance County Board of Commissioners will have a special called meeting on Monday, Apr. 14 at 4 p.m. to discuss matters concerning the jail. Included on the notice from Board Chair Carolyn Faines are three items:
- new detention center construction and renovation recommendations
- detention center deficiencies
- emergency pay policy
The meeting will be held in the commissioners’ conference room of the Vance County Administration Building, 122 Young St.
