The Candler County Sheriff’s Office is preparing to open a new jail, replacing an aging facility with a modern detention center designed around security, technology, inmate management, increased access to medical care, and a strong focus on the county’s future needs.
Sheriff John Miles and Captain Justin Wells recently offered TheGeorgiaVirtue an inside view of the nearly complete jail slated to open this fall. The tour included details on the news dispatch location, jail administration operations, accommodations for detainees, court appearances, visitation, and services for citizens.
The new jail is long overdue for Candler County. Currently, inmates are being housed in other counties due to the issues inside the Candler County Jail, namely with the plumbing, outdated infrastructure, and a lack of technology.
An Increase in Jail Capacity
The new jail is expected to hold approximately 102 inmates, an increase from the current capacity of 75. While the county does not expect, or want, to operate at the maximum capacity, the current population fluctuates between 40-60 inmates with most of the detainees being pre-trial detainees, meaning their cases are still working through the courts.
When the jail opens this fall and inmates housed in other counties return, Miles said they expect to have roughly 65 inmates.
But that doesn’t mean the new facility is only “half-full” since 102 beds does not equate to space for 102 inmates. Inmates often must be separated for a variety of security, classification, medical, and other reasons and staying at or below 90% is preferred.
The new jail includes two different housing pod sizes – the larger of which can accommodate up to sixteen inmates while the smaller pods can house ten.
The design also provides greater flexibility for housing female inmates, a somewhat newer issue for Candler County. The number of women housed in the jail has increased in recent years. In the current facility, the female housing area is the smallest, meaning officials have, at times, had to reorganize male housing to create additional space for women. That won’t be necessary in the new jail.
Technology at the Forefront
Technology is at the forefront of the new jail.
The building includes a central control tower to give jail personnel both electronic and visual oversight of the housing pods. From the tower, a single employee can access cameras, communicate throughout the facility, and electronically control doors and gates. That alone is a substantial improvement from the current jail setup.
The same control system also allows staff to manage inmate televisions from the tower.
Officials said the technology is particularly important from a staffing perspective because it allows a single employee to safely perform more monitoring and communication functions.
“The technology allows one person to do more, but much more safely and efficiently.,” Wells said of the tower.
Camera coverage also extends throughout the entire building. While Candler County Jailers are already equipped with body cameras, which have helped reduce problems inside the jail, the new building is fully equipped with corner-to-corner cameras to capture nearly every interaction inside the facility.
Another component includes video visitation, as the Candler County Jail does not facilitate face-to-face visitation. Family members and others wishing to speak with detainees have the ability to use the jail lobby for video visitation, but the system will also allow them to connect remotely at home.
The new facility has separate attorney meeting rooms to protect confidential communications.
Finally, the new building provides for dedicated locations for first appearances in magistrate court and other Candler County-based court appearances. Moving inmates creates logistical challenges, especially if staffing issues arise, and additional security risks. For routine hearings that do not require a defendant to physically appear in a courtroom, officials said the new system should make the process considerably easier.
Dedicated Medical Suite
One of the largest operational improvements will be a dedicated medical area.
The current Candler County Jail does not have comparable medical space, with medical services presently being handled in the booking area or a need for transport off site.
The new jail changes that. The facility includes a medical suite that will be occupied by healthcare providers through an arrangement with Candler County Hospital. Miles said a nurse is expected to be at the jail for several hours each day, while a physician will be available for several hours each week.
The suite, outfitted by the hospital, includes space for examinations, medication storage, and other routine healthcare functions. The hope is to handle routine medical care and medication administration inside the jail rather than transporting inmates elsewhere.
“The idea is to minimize the amount of times we have to take” inmates elsewhere,” Wells explained during the tour.
Reducing transports carries benefits beyond healthcare costs. Every time an inmate leaves a secure detention facility, deputies must coordinate transportation, supervision and security while the inmate is outside the jail.
The contract is also expected to present a cost-savings to taxpayers as outside vendor contracts can easily exceed $1 million annually.
Dedicated Juvenile Holding Cells
The new jail also addresses a problem Candler County currently faces when law enforcement takes a juvenile into custody.
Because juveniles cannot be placed with the adult jail population, the existing facility has no appropriate holding cell for them. Officials said juveniles are often placed in a conference room under direct supervision while waiting for personnel from YDC to arrive. Sometimes that can take several hours.
The new jail includes juvenile holding cells near the intake area, allowing juveniles to remain securely separated from the adult inmate population while awaiting transfer.
Other Improvements
The county has a longstanding arrangement with the hospital to provide inmate meals, an arrangement officials described as economical and successful. But the sheriff’s office wanted to have a contingency plan in place for food services in the event that the contract one day became unavailable. The new jail has a dedicated food services location that can be outfitted if necessary. Short term plans could include cold storage and refrigeration with eventual expansion to outfit for hot food preparation, if necessary.
The new dispatch center is already operational with new modernized equipment to monitor both law enforcement and emergency activity. The system integrates information from patrol deputies, fire, EMS, and 911 calls.
Another improvement for the general public, even those who aren’t spending time behind bars, is a dedicated location outside the secured area for fingerprinting and applications for weapons carry licenses and the like.
Built with the Future in Mind
Perhaps one of the most praiseworthy aspects of the new jail is the forward thinking toward what will be needed in the future.
Rather than constructing a facility that would have to be extensively redesigned if the county outgrows it, the new jail was planned so another housing section can eventually be constructed as an add-on to the existing building. One exit door could lead to another 98 beds, if needed.
The jail also considers the long-term master plan for the county, considering an expanded public safety complex for the Candler County Sheriff’s Office generally. The original design included a newer CCSO building adjacent to the jail, but financing and funding determinations ultimately omitted those offices, at least for now. Still, the building leaves room for an eventual expansion for county offices as well as court accessibility, which could improve security and reduce inmate movement.
Finally, the new jail is equipped with plumbing and water lines that are entirely above ground. One of the main issues with the current building is the plumbing system sealed by concrete flooring that makes accessibility difficult and expensive when issues arise – and arise they have. Pods and dorms within the existing building have projected repair costs in the millions due to accessibility issues – which is why the new facility nearly eliminates those problems with a fully accessible building.
Project Cost Expected to Remain Below $12 Million
Officials said during the tour that the final overall project cost is expected to come in at less than $12 million. The amount includes more than the basic construction of the jail, with costs associated with technology, HVAC and other infrastructure included in the overall project.
The original, guaranteed construction price was $10,437,880. This did not include architectural fees ($580,000), some engineering fees & furniture, fixtures & equipment. The county also expended funds for the dispatch center ($350,172.57), data center ($162,230.72), and FF&E ($81,099.66).
The construction was funded, in part, with a 30-year general obligation bond for $9,380,000 which was issued in September 2023. The $1 million difference between the bond funds and the construction cost is being covered by interest earned on the bond funds during the construction period and reserves from the General Fund – currently estimated at $725,000 required.
The bond payments are due semi-annually and are being paid with allocations of Level II SPLOST (20% of SPLOST proceeds off the top) and a portion of the county’s further allocation of SPLOST.
County officials said the dispatch console was funded with E-911 funding and the equipment was funded with 2018 SPLOST funds. The data center and FF&E are funded with 2018 SPLOST.
As of the tour date in late August, the project cost was hovering at $11,611,382.95
For a facility expected to serve Candler County for decades, officials have designed the new jail not just around the inmate population the county has today, but around the possibility of what Candler County may need years from now.
