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Assisting Sheriff Steve Bizzell (second
from right) with this week's media tour of
the new Detention Center: (left to right) Assistant
Jail Administrator Jeffrey Jernigan, Chief
Administrator Mike Carson, and Chief Sheriff's
Deputy Bengie Gaddis.
Johnston's new Detention
Center
has ample room for 469 "guests"
The Johnston County
Jail inside the 1989 addition to the Courthouse in
Downtown Smithfield was built to house 191 inmates. On
Wednesday of this week the jail there held 269. That
number at times has exceeded 300, and things could be
worse if not for Wayne County's recent willingness to
help handle the overflow, Sheriff Steve Bizzell told
us this week.
But relief, at last, is in sight. After several months
of delay related to equipment issues, the new Johnston
County Detention Center off US 70 Business a mile or
so east of Smithfield should be ready in a matter of
days to receive all those inmates presently crammed
into the Courthouse jail, said the sheriff.
The new facility covers 118,000 square feet with room
for 469 inmates, and it's built for a future addition
boosting that capacity to 600.
The Detention Center's
capital cost, including purchase of the
property, currently totals about $41.2 million,
according to Chad McLamb, the county's finance
director. That's being financed by Local
Obligation Bonds the N.C. Local Government
Commission has allowed the county to issue
without voter approval.
The recently approved county budget for 2023-24
provides funding for 11 new positions for
managing the new "jail," bringing the total
staff to 75 employees.
Here are some highlights from this week's media
tour:
The Detention Center has
two control rooms, or "towers," that allow staff
to monitor six cell blocks at a time, both
visually through the windows or on video screens
fed by strategically placed cameras.
Surveillance cameras are used not just here but
everywhere else throughout the sprawling
complex.
Sheriff Bizzell is shown inside a typical
two-bed cell in one of 12 separate cell blocks.
Eleven of those have 20 cells each, 19 with two
beds and the other with a single bed for
handicapped inmates. The 12th cell block (shown
below) is like a dormitory, and its 40
beds are restricted to inmates exhibiting good
behavior, including "trusties" entrusted with
day-to-day duties in support of the employed
staff.
"We treat inmates as members of our
family," Sheriff Bizzell told us. "Sometimes we're
called the Mayberry jail, and I like that." As a result,
"we don't have a lot of complaints," he said.
Jail Administrator Mike Carson explains the
$138,000 body scanner used to detect dangerous
items like knives and such before inmates are
admitted to a cell block. While this item is an
expensive piece of equipment, Sheriff Bizzell
said the county's maintenance staff has saved
taxpayers thousands of dollars by fabricating
storage cabinets and other items instead of
ordering commercially manufactured products.
Sheriff Bizzell stands in the "wardrobe room"
where standard-issue clothing is kept for
arriving inmates: orange tops and sandals for
the men, pink for the women. He pointed out that
male and female inmates are held in separate
quarters at all times.
Visitors are allowed to meet inmates most
anytime throughout the week, but they must make
arrangements at last 48 hours in advance and are
restricted to visits by means of telephone and
video screens (shown below). Mr. Carson
said greater flexibility for visits is allowed
if they're done remotely through Internet
connections.
A similar video and communication setup (right)
allows interaction between inmates and
Courthouse personnel for matters like
arraignments, thereby avoiding numerous
transports of prisoners throughout the day. Even
so, Sheriff Bizzell said plans are to keep a
number of jail cells intact at the Courthouse
for judicial matters that require in-person
appearances.
Several
exercise areas like this one (below)
are deep inside the walls of the complex
with screen-like tops that let in the
sunshine along with rain and snow when it
falls. Inmates are allowed in these areas
up to three hours each day, with limits on
how many can be there at one time.
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The industrial-strength kitchen may have to
prepare 900 a meals a day shortly after the
first batch of inmates arrive, said the sheriff,
shown here with the kitchen's chief supervisor,
Rosa Peedin.
Magistrates currently
stationed in the Courthouse basement will find
much better working spaces inside the Detention
Center, including a small courtroom (shown
below) that's suitable for civil marriage
ceremonies.
In front of the Detention Center facing the
highway is another new building nearing
completion: the Johnston County Public
Safety Center which will be the new home
of the Sheriff's Department, Emergency Services,
and 9-1-1 Communications. Moving all of those
agencies plus the jail out of the Courthouse
will allow renovations providing additional
needed space for judicial services Downtown.
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