It took a little longer than expected, but the Greene County jail is back in business.
According to Sheriff Donnie Harrison, the jail resumed all operations on March 18, and inmates who had been housed in the Morgan County jail returned to Greene County’s facility.
“Over the past year, the Greene County jail has undergone extensive renovations to repair and update plumbing, sewage, electrical, LED light fixtures, camera and access/ lock control systems, and expanded holding cells,” Harrison said in a press release. “During the renovations, the Greene County detention officers worked side by side with the Morgan County detention officers while inmates were booked and housed at the Morgan County Jail.
"We are grateful to retired Morgan County Sheriff Robert Markley and current Morgan County Sheriff Tyler Hooks and their teams for accommodating us during the course of the renovation project. I am especially grateful to the detention officers of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office for their hard work, professionalism, and dedication this past year.”
According to Harrison, renovations were expected to take eight months, but technical issues with computers and internet connections delayed completion.
During the renovations, 18 members of the Greene County jail staff were sent to Morgan County to manage the 62 inmates transferred there.
Harrison praised Greene jail administrator Major Vivian Ashley-Mayweather for her work in transferring inmates.
“She has done a wonderful job coordinating this effort with Morgan County,” Harrison said.
“[The transfer process] has worked better than I hoped it would,” added Captain Derrick Reid, who oversees Morgan’s jail operations.
According to Harrison, wear and tear on Greene County’s 26-year-old facility necessitated the renovation. The sheriff, county manager Byron Lombard, and building inspector and permit supervisor Chuck Wooley toured other jails, including the one in Morgan County, to develop ideas on how the Greene County jail could be upgraded.
“It’s not a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. building,” Harrison said. “And over time, wear and tear, some resulting from people who didn’t necessarily want to be in that facility, required us to make some upgrades.”
The renovation work was done by Dublin Construction and overseen by project manager Brennan Bass.
At some point in the not-too-distant future, the Greene County jail will need to be replaced.
The Greene County Board of Commissioners addressed the issue during a recent meeting, in which the county discussed creating a public facilities authority to handle financing for capital projects.
“Given the county’s growth and known public facility needs, the option of creating a public facilities authority has emerged,” Lombard said. “The authority would exist to help obtain favorable financing and funding for public facilities, land, buildings, renovations, expansion, construction rehabilitation, equipment, furnishings, fixtures, roads, bridges, and any other improvements that would be exempt from taxation at a very low interest rate. We know we are going to have to borrow money for a new jail in 12 to 15 years.”