New Detention Center
Breaking Ground
Left to Right: Judge William O. Smith, Leon Bingham, Dale Vaughn, Beth Sallee, Doug Rose
Since the early 1980’s Jackson County has considered building a new jail. The existing jail is over 100 years old and cannot meet current standards to house inmates other than our own.
This ultimately means all operational expense is strictly a county responsibility. Expenses and inmate population has continually been on the increase and that trend is expected to continue.
The Department of Corrections is expected to close all jails like ours, classed as life safety in the not too distant future.
With that given information, the Jackson County Fiscal Court has voted to approve the building of a new facility.
The new facility will have 80+ inmates. We hope to house inmates from outside our county which will produce income for our county to help pay for the facility as well as offset some of the operational cost.
Construction is in progress and we hope will be complete by September 2010. We will try to keep you up to date as we progress through the construction phase.