Lowndes jail gets new AC units
Aug. 4—VALDOSTA — Lowndes County Jail has installed a new air-conditioning system which has sparked some concern about inmates and heat in the facility.
The Valdosta Daily Times received a message about a lack of air conditioning at Lowndes County Jail.
Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk said due to issues with the jail's old A/C units, the jail has spent the last 90 days switching over to a new A/C system, leaving certain areas of the jail without air temporarily.
He said the jail has A/C units despite no requirement to have them at the federal or state level.
"We finished that up yesterday," the sheriff said earlier this week. "It's been an ongoing process because we went to a whole different type of system, so they probably started three months ago. It was just a temporary issue; nobody was without air for more than four hours," he said.
"There's no requirement for the jails to have air conditioning. That's just a luxury we do for them down here. The guards have to be in the same area as the inmates they're guarding, so it wasn't just the inmates. Our employees are in full uniform, which can make them hotter than the inmates."
