Herald's history series:

Addition, renovation planned at Jackson Jail

From The Sylva Herald, July 17, 1980

The 320-square-foot addition will feature rooms for observation, reception - records, interrogation and visiting.

Sheriff Holcombe stated that the observation room will provide a space in which a person suspected of suicidal tendencies can be observed by department staff.

The visiting room will offer a more suitable facility for prisoners to talk to attorneys and visitors and provide improved security for all parties involved in visitation.

"The visiting room," said county planner Joel Freeman, "will have glass partition and equipment to assure no direct contact between inmates and visitors."

Another need felt in the present facility was for a record room. In the addition, the booking or records room will be a part of the reception room and will have better security than is now offered.

Renovation in the existing structure will be done in a 12- by 16-foot area on the west side of the jail.

According to Hooper, funds for the addition and remodeling will come from a 50-50 grant of local monies and funds from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration channeled through the N.C. Department of Public Safety and Crime Control in Raleigh. Projected cost of the work is $80,000.

An advertisement for bids was published, with the bids to be opened July 3. However, no bids were received. Hooper said there will be readvertisement for bids, to be opened at 2 p.m. Aug. 6.

This marks the first major renovation of the Jackson County Jail, which was built in 1963-64 at a cost of around $75,000 after a jail bond issue was approved by county voters in a referendum. At that time, the old jail was converted into government offices and space for other purposes.

The old jail was built around 1913, when the county seat was moved from Webster to Sylva. Superior Court Grand Juries as early as 1953 had recommended that the jail be closed. A $100,000 jail bond referendum on May 14, 1959, failed by a 459-vote margin, and 10 days later, after another recommendation by the Grand Jury, Superior Court Judge J. Frank Huskins issued an order closing the jail for the purpose of keeping prisoners.

Judge Huskins' order noted that the official files of the Division of Inspection of Correctional Institutions, State Board of Public Welfare, showed that the agency considered "the Jackson County Jail the most inadequate and basically defective jail structure and facility in North Carolina, resulting not so such from its age as from poor basic design and construction."

While the jail was closed, prisoners were transported to Haywood County, primarily, but also to Swain and Macon counties. A year later, the order was modified to allow keeping prisoners for up to 18 hours in the jail facility; and that was later modified for up to 72 hours in a couple of cellblocks.

In May 1962, a $70,000 jail bond referendum was approved by an 1,865-vote majority. Plans were drawn and bids on the new jail were opened in May 1963. Construction was completed and the then-new jail was placed in use on Aug. 3, 1964.

Editor's note: This is the weekly installment of a review of our back issues as The Sylva Herald and Ruralite celebrates its 75th anniversary throughout 2001.

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