MACON, Ga. — This year's inspection report of the Bibb County jail is out, and the grand jury says the jail needs some repairs.
Sheriff David Davis says a lot of those issues are from "wear and tear" of the over 40-year-old jail. He says the county can make those fixes for now, but with this, he said the county needs to consider building a new jail "in a few years."
From electrical issues to some housekeeping matters, the grand jury detailed issues they found in the jail during their inspection almost two weeks ago on February 5.
The grand jury says they noticed a list of problems that need to be fixed like broken windows, rust, floors, ceiling tiles, and elevators.
"It basically tells me that we have an old facility. That we are constantly doing upkeeping, maintenance and painting on an old facility," Davis said.
Also on the list of repairs are exposed wires, something Davis says isn't just caused by the building's age.
"Inmates will sometimes try to get the wires loose so they can, what we call wicks, create something to burn, so if they have any -- you're not supposed to have tobacco, but they'll try to smoke different things or any contraband brought into the jail," Davis said.
The grand jury also observed a "black mold-like substance" on ceiling tiles and floor drains. Davis says the mold is mainly in the old parts of the jail.
"We've had places checked. It's not the dangerous type of black mold, but it is something we have to stay on top of. Anywhere there's a little moisture. There's always a potential for mildew," Davis said.
He says this report is better than in 2017 when jurors recommended that Bibb County demolish the current jail and build a new one. The oldest part of the jail opened in early 1980. The 2021 report did not mentioned tearing down the jail, however, Davis says the county needs to begin considering building a new facility when conversations starts on another SPLOST.
"I'm not saying we need to build the jail next year, but I think we need to start thinking about that eventuality in a few years to come," Davis said. "We can Band-Aid what we got. We can paint it, patch it, everything we got to do."
Davis said he's advocated for a shared space for the courts and jail. He says that would save the county money with operating costs.
Aside from repairs in this year's report, the grand jury asked why the Bibb County Sheriff's Office is understaffed and they recommended two solutions: to increase pay and to offer incentives.
Davis says they're already addressing both with the county implementing the new pay scale and offering a signing bonus.
Sheriff Davis says they are addressing the problems mentioned in the report. It's also worth noting that this report did not mention any security issues or violation of COVID-19 precautions.
This inspection comes after photos circulated on social media of inmates lying on the ground and not social distancing in one of two quarantining pods inside the jail.
Last week, Macon District Attorney Anita Reynolds-Howard stated there were no known written records of an inspection report since 2017, and that she would begin written reports of jail inspections.
Former District Attorney David Cooke says those inspections between 2018 and 2020 did happen during his administration, but the grand juries did not write a report if there were not any major problems.