TownTalk: More On Vance County Jail
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TownTalk: Sheriff Brame Discusses Detention Center With County Commissioners
As Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame sees it, this county needs a new jail, no two ways about it. He’s said it before and he said it again during an April 15 commissioners’ work session, during which commissioners reviewed several options from an architect’s needs assessment and received an update on current conditions from the sheriff.
Commissioners agree that something needs to be done, but as the old saying goes, “All it takes is time and money.”
Replacing the jail comes with a $42 million price tag, according to the assessment by Moseley Architects. An expansion would cost north of $31 million and repairing the existing facility would cost more than $5.2 million, according to the architect’s report. Board Chair Dan Brummitt speculated that even if the board decided now to build a new jail, it would be between five and eight years before the first detainee would be housed there.
There are no easy answers to the challenges that face the aging jail, but Brame said he’s worried about the lack of basic safety measures being in place – for detainees and for staff.
He said the jail has 20 staff openings right now, and that overnight staffing is sparse at best. Hiring is difficult, he said, partly because of the salary offered and partly because of the jail conditions.
“Pay does help,” Brame told commissioners. “We do need an increase in pay. But they will not come because they feel unsafe … those inmates could take over the facility any time they want to.”
The county recently spent half a million dollars to replace security doors at the jail, but Brummitt said they were not installed properly and the Georgia company that installed them has not returned to finish the job to the county’s satisfaction.
County Manager C. Renee Perry said she would look at the terms of the contract to determine if the county has any recourse in the matter.
There are other more routine maintenance issues that need attention, and the jail does have an employee who handles them, but other issues like replacing light fixtures and moving outlets away from inmates’ reach are things that require an electrician.
And tradespeople don’t want to do the work because it’s unsafe.
“We have an unsafe facility down there,” Brame said, “from the doors, to how it’s designed, to staffing.”
Commissioner Sean Alston said there are federal grants to apply for help with paying for a new jail and he is hopeful that recent talks with Don Davis and others are going to pay dividends in that area.
Perry said she had submitted to Davis two capital projects for funding consideration – the jail and a new EMS building.
It all comes down to safety, Brame said. “We’ve got a lot of dangerous people in our facility,” 40 in jail for murder. Between June 2021 and July 2022, there were 26 major incidents that occurred in the jail, including death, rape and assault.
From 2019 to 2024, Brame said there were 636 incidents at the jail that came in to 911 – from the jail. “Ninety percent of our people are violent offenders,” Brame said.
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TownTalk: Commissioners Debate Medical Co-Pay For Detainees
The Vance County Board of Commissioners is considering putting a health copay in place for individuals detained in the Vance County Detention Center.
Finance Director Katherine Bigelow shared information with commissioners during their Monday, Nov. 20 work session.
Board Chair Yolanda Feimster sent the matter to the Public Safety Committee for further discussion and to work through details about how such a policy would work.
Commissioner Dan Brummitt was the sole member of the Public Safety Committee present at the work session; commissioners Sean Alston and Carolyn Faines were not present for the meeting.
Bigelow said she had spoken with officials in more than 25 counties as part of her research; “we are the only ones that do not do this,” she told commissioners.
Bigelow and County Manager Renee Perry said it would help curb costs for detainees who may make unnecessary trips to the health care provider – racking up a hefty fee for the county each time.
This would encourage inmates to take responsibility of their own health care, they noted. The basic idea is that the inmate may decide to lie down and rest instead of going to the infirmary to get pills for a headache, Perry said.
If the health care provider determines that the visit was not a medical necessity, the individual would be charged a copay; $20 is the allowable limit that can be charged.
“We will not make money on this by any means,” Bigelow noted, adding that $395,000 of the $550,000 budgeted for health care at the jail has already been spent.
In a follow-up statement to WIZS News, Perry said the jail is on track to have an overage of as much as $1 million by the end of fiscal year 2024 if no measures are taken to curb the spending.
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TownTalk: Jail To Close For Repairs
The 50-plus inmates of the Vance County Detention Center could find themselves in a different jail soon – at least temporarily – while contractors replace old doors to provide better security.
The Vance County Commissioners approved spending up to $90,000 to pay for the inmates’ stays at other facilities, but there’s one condition: Vance County Sheriff Curtis Brame must get, in writing, confirmation from the contractor that the work can and will be done within a 30-day period.
During that 30-day window, the jail would be closed as far as housing inmates is concerned. Closing a jail sounds like a severe measure, but it is what needs to happen for the repairs and installations to be completed.
Brame and longtime sheriff’s office employee Weldon Bullock were at the commissioners’ meeting Monday to make the request. They shared details of yet another example of unsafe conditions at the jail – an inmate lay unconscious for at least five minutes after being attacked in a fight over the weekend.
He was transported to Duke University Hospital and had surgery for a broken eye socket, Bullock reported during his remarks to the commissioners. He also stated that the doors are broken and can’t be secured properly. But physical conditions aside, Bullock said what really bothered him was that the inmate could have died. “The guy could have laid there and died – I don’t want somebody to get killed because we can’t lock the doors.”
The new doors have been purchased and are ready to be installed, to the tune of about $400,000. Once the sheriff gets written confirmation from the contractor that the work can be done within a 30-day period, the plan can proceed.
As chief law enforcement officer in the county, the sheriff is responsible for the hiring and firing of employees within the sheriff’s office, but salaries and other capital expenses are the responsibility of the county commissioners.
Brame has long said that the county needs a new jail and more staff to adequately cover the jail. The facility has gotten deficiencies on state inspection reports for various problems, from broken doors to non-functioning cameras and peeling paint.
A comprehensive feasibility study was initiated last year to evaluate the jail and to help county leaders decide whether to repair or replace the 30-year-old structure.
The Vance County Jail will close for thirty days to replace doors.
The Local Skinny! Vance County Jail
The Vance County commissioners continue to move forward to address issues with the county detention center, and at their meeting Monday chose a Raleigh architectural firm to complete a needs assessment and make recommendations and suggestions about whether to repair or replace.
Moseley Architects worked with Granville County to build its newly completed jail complex, and County Manager Jordan McMillen told WIZS News Thursday that county leaders are hopeful that the needs assessment will provide some options for next steps.
The 30-year-old jail has had some deficiencies in previous jail inspections, from damaged ceiling tiles to peeling paint and other areas that need repair or maintenance. But McMillen said options range from construction of a new jail to an upgrade and expansion of the current facility or even embracing the concept of “regionalization with a neighboring county.”
Commissioner Dan Brummitt told WIZS News Thursday that the concept of jail regionalization is a growing trend, loosely defined as a way for counties to pool resources, allowing for inmates and suspects to be housed in a central facility instead of county jails.
But jails need a full roster of county detention officers to operate effectively, and the Human Resources Committee identified the position of detention officer as one of several hard-to-fill positions.
The commissioners approved giving a $5,000 hiring bonus for new detention officers, as well as social workers who work with child protective services at the Department of Social Services.
Commissioners Carolyn Faines, Archie Taylor and Gordon Wilder comprise the HR committee, and they reviewed turnover data and length of vacancies to identify the top three positions, McMillen said.
In other business, the commissioners finalized the sale of the former DSS building to the Henderson Family YMCA.
“This will pave the way for the YMCA to use this property for their programming needs as they look to the future,” McMillen said. The 9,684 square foot building sits on 2.46 acres at 350 Ruin Creek Rd.
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