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Editorials - 05/15/03Opening of new jail, Sheriff¹s Office to increase safety |
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Commissioners and past commissioners, along with the current and three former sheriffs, gathered in Sylva Saturday to celebrate the opening of a much-needed and long-anticipated county facility.
The Jackson County Detention and Law Enforcement Center is light years ahead of the old jail in terms of convenience and technology and will increase safety for both inmates and jailers. In addition, the new jail offers flexibility in housing arrangements for prisoners including separate areas for male and female detainees. With its sprinkler system and electronic doors, Jackson County law enforcement personnel should be able to avert a tragedy like Mitchell County's jail fire a year ago. A number of inmates were killed in that fire because jailers couldn't unlock individual doors in time to evacuate all the prisoners; jailers at our new facility will be able to open all doors simultaneously in the event of an emergency. Jackson County officials should be commended for their proactive leadership in taking steps to improve the situation at the local jail three years before the Mitchell County fire brought such concerns to the forefront in counties across the region. While new jails are expensive - some $6 million in this case - they are cheap compared to the human toll exacted in a tragedy like Mitchell County's. County commissioners elected in 1998 - Chairman Jay Denton, Stacy Buchanan, Conrad Burrell, Roberta Crawford and Franz Whitmire - realized soon after taking office that deplorable conditions at Jackson County's condemned 41-year-old jail could not be allowed to continue. In addition to safety concerns, the smallness of the facility was costing county taxpayers thousands of dollars each year to pay to house prisoners in nearby counties' jails. With vision and foresight, those five commissioners made a new jail a priority, borrowing money to construct it at the same time they borrowed to enhance student learning by modernizing a similar-aged Smoky Mountain High School. Commissioners Buchanan and Crawford remain in office to see that vision become reality, and former Sheriff Jim Cruzan, who helped plan the new jail, was on hand for Saturday's celebration. "The opening of this new facility is more than the dedication of a building," said current Sheriff Jimmy Ashe. "It marks a tangible commitment by the people of Jackson County to recognize the importance of law enforcement and its role in assuring that the quality of life in our community is second to none." |
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