'I'm left holding the bag': Sheriff says something must be done about Burke County jail

Walking through the Burke County jail, Sheriff Alfonzo Williams said you risk being soaked in flying urine or being grabbed through jail cells by inmates.

It is not a pretty sight, or experience, for those in the Burke County community who end up imprisoned or working at the aging detention center. But Williams said his pleas for change have gone unanswered.

In a letter to Burke County commissioners on Aug. 6, Williams responded to accusations of overspending and addressed budget concerns including the state of the Burke County jail.

What's wrong at the jail?

Among the issues Williams mentioned were a lack of suicide watch areas, lockdown areas and a mental health ward.

Williams said he received a call at 9 a.m. on July 4 about a mentally ill inmate who put a blanket around his cell.

"He wouldn't take it down, so two deputies went in and he immediately charged them, took a Taser from one of them and beat him in the head with it," Williams said. "That deputy ended up with 14 stitches. A second deputy ended up with a deviated septum and a concussion and a third deputy got hurt in the process of trying to help. Now, I've got three officers out on worker's comp."

Williams added the jail has insufficient female quarters and not enough space to separate violent and nonviolent offenders.

"For six years, our folks have fought and worked with what they have," he said. "They're sick of getting urine thrown onto them and getting slapped in the face or grabbed while they're walking past the bars. ... Our employees are abusing sick leave, morale is low, we cannot recruit people to come to work here. I have to do something to stop the bleeding."

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Trading with other jails

Unable to house all 130 Burke County inmates, the jail contracted with four other county jails – Washington, Glenn, Jefferson and Jenkins counties – to safely house inmates at a cost of nearly $550,000 over the last year.

Williams said the offenders sent to the other jails include a mixture of different security level inmates, ranging from low security to the most violent.

"We've traded some [inmates] as just an even exchange with no money required," he said. "If they have behavioral problems, they'll send 10 to us and we'll do the same."

Williams added inmates may be traded if there are codefendants that can't be kept in the facility because it is too small, if there are gang issues or if there are safety concerns.

Those with medical concerns may also be transferred, as the jail's medical ward was built prior to ADA regulations and is not handicap accessible.

What can be done?

The jail is the oldest of of the 13 surrounding counties, including Richmond, Aiken, Edgefield, Lincoln and McDuffie.

Four architects, the Georgia Sheriff's Association Jail Division and the Burke County Grand Jury assessed the jail and came to the conclusion that the jail needed to be demolished, according to the sheriff's office.

The Board of Commissioners recently hired an architect to review the needs of the detention center "with a view to expand and renovate the existing facility," according to Burke County Manager Merv Waldrop.

When Williams took office in 2017, he said a quote to build a 225-bed facility was between $12 and $15 million. Now, he says the cost has jumped to $22 million.

"What I'm trying to stress to the community is you've got to get involved," he said. "You've got to pay attention. If you don't, you're going to pay later. For every year you wait, you're spending millions more."

Williams said the commission offered to put aside $4 million each year for a new facility, but by the time that account gets to $20 million, they will need even more.

"I'm saying to a county that is financially healthy, let's stop the back and forth and let's do what we need," he said. "We're paying $50,000 a month to house our inmates. If we started construction tomorrow, it would take us two years before we could move in. We are the only ones with a 35-year-old facility in these conditions."

While the commission has publicly blamed the sheriff for overspending, he said the issue stemmed from poor planning.

"When you build a building, you know what the life of it is going to be," Williams said. "We should have been putting money aside to do this a long time ago, and because somebody failed to plan, I'm left holding the bag."

Waldrop said the Board of Commissioners has been putting funds aside for a number of years starting with the SPLOST approved in 2010 for expansion of the detention center. He declined to answer inquiries about the jail's condition.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Burke County jail's medical ward not handicap accessible, unsafe