Prisoners with no Prison

About a dozen prisoners may soon have no place to go... Bledsoe County's jail was shut down back in May and their inmates sent to Sequatchie and Rhea counties facilities...

But now Rhea says they want them out.

This isn't a recent problem... it's one that started back in the early nineties when Bledsoe county inmates sued because of the horrible jail conditions. Even though the facility was court ordered to renovate, the issues continued leading to discussions of a regional jail for Sequatchie, Grundy, Bledsoe, and VanBuren in 2002. But those talks failed, and while Sequatchie re-built up to standards, Bledsoe shut down.

Back in May, Bledsoe County inmates walked out of the 115 year old jail... It was locked after the fire marshall came and shut it down due to lack of sprinklers, fire proof ceilings and walls, and overcrowding. Leaving a big problem in the hands of Sheriff Jim Morris.

Morris says, "You know if you have no place to go with an inmate after they're booked in, it depends on the charge but it could be serious."

A serious situation that just got even worse... The twenty prisoners from bledsoe were taken to nearby rhea and sequatchie county jails. But now they say they can't help house anyone else.

Morris says, "We have a situation where we received a letter monday that some counties weren't gonna take no more inmates for us and it's gonna be a big problem."

A problem that nearby sequatchie county executive David Barker says they faced as well, until they built a new facility which opened last year.... and is now nearly full. With no room for any more of Bledsoe's inmates, including about a dozen that Sheriff Morris says will no longer be held at the Rhea County jail. Barker says, "We had to say no because we have certification and if we get overcrowded we'll lose that."

But Barker says a new jail is in the plans for Bledsoe and Morris hopes the old jail can be a temporary solution.

Sheriff Morris tells us the fire marshall is coming to the bledsoe county jail on january fourth to let them know exactly what changes need to be made to get the allowed 9 inmates back in this facility.

But still leaving many with no bars to be behind. Barker says, "You can't afford to jeopardize your county for the sake of another even if you want to help them."

Barker says they are currently keeping about a dozen inmates from Bledsoe at a discounted rate of twenty dollars a day. The proposed new jail for Bledsoe is estimated to cost about five million dollars and would take about two years to build. But, Sheriff Morris tells us they don't have a site for that jail yet, so there's still a lot more planning left. And he says he hopes to talk with both the Rhea county sheriff and Sequatchie sheriff about the issue.

We did call Rhea County's Mayor and Sheriff to find out why they will no longer hold the prisoners, but neither calls were returned.