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.
