Sheriff Ray says Jail and Annex Meet State Recertification Standards

The DeKalb County Jail and Jail Annex have again met standards for re-certification by the Tennessee Corrections Institute.
Sheriff Patrick Ray, in a prepared statement, says ” On March 11th I received a letter from the Tennessee Corrections Institute stating that both the DeKalb County Jail and Jail Annex have received certification for the year of 2008.”
In the letter, State Executive Director Jerry Abston wrote “The Tennessee Corrections Institute recently inspected the DeKalb County Jail and Annex. The inspection revealed that both facilities meet all applicable minimum standards. These statues shall be reported to the Board of Control at its next meeting. After approval from the Board of Control, you will receive a Certificate of Certification. You are to be congratulated for attaining this degree of professionalism in your organization.”
State Jail Inspector John Hanna Jr. inspected the older part of the Jail on March 11th and found in the DeKalb County Jail the following ” I conducted the physical walk-through of the cells, kitchen, and the medical section, and I found no violations. The logs and records seem to be up to date and in order. I recommend continued certification of this facility at this inspection.”
Sheriff Ray said “This section of the Jail (older building) is where we house females. The female inmates are housed upstairs where they can have no visual or verbal contact with the male inmates. Some of the male inmates are housed in the basement area of the Jail away from the female inmates. As of today, Monday, there are 33 inmates (18 females and 15 males) housed in the older part of the Jail.”
Also on March 11th, Inspector Hanna inspected the Jail Annex and wrote the following “This Jail was inspected on March 11th. I looked at the records and logs which seemed to be without discrepancies. The cells, medical, and kitchen were visited and looked to be in good shape. There is an area that needed to be corrected. I, (Hanna), measured the dorm in the annex and noted there was enough square footage and plumbing to add sixteen beds. This was completed in September of 2007 which raised the count from 42 to 58. I will file a new Capacity Change Report with this inspection. I recommend continued certification of the jail annex.”
Sheriff Ray said “As of today (Monday), there are 47 male inmates housed in the Jail Annex. We are averaging around a total of 80 inmates per day with somewhere around 15 to 20 weekenders that come in on Friday night and are released on Sunday night. We have a total of 104 beds with the Jail and Jail Annex combined.”