Committee delays new jail decision

The Spartanburg County Jail will stay where it is - for now. A committee studying Spartanburg County 's jail needs delayed a decision yesterday on whether the county should build a new high-rise jail next to the courthouse or a one- or two-story jail on a site outside the city. The committee is charged with making a recommendation to the County Council, which has the final say.

Consultants Carter Goble Associates of Columbia have estimated a jail outside the city would cost $16.8 million, while a 10- to 15-story jail on the present site would cost $17.6 million. A parking garage - needed to replace the existing parking lot on which the new jail would be built - would increase the cost of a high-rise jail to $19.6 million. In yesterday's New Detention and Court Facility Advisory Committee meeting, 7th Circuit Court Judge E.C. Burnett III asked panel members to vote on the "concept" of either a high-rise jail or a low-profile jail. The vote never came. Family Court Judge Clyde Laney presented a snag. Laney said his jail subcommittee has already recommended the county build a high-rise on the present site.

But many members of the full committee were unaware of this recommendation. Subcommittee member Don Dease said this preliminary decision was made "months ago" and before Carter Goble's price estimates were released. "I'd hate to see one of the tallest buildings in town be a jail," said Dease, a state Department of Corrections official who is acting on his own behalf in the committee proceedings. Still, Dease would not commit to one jail plan or the other.

Former State Supreme Court Chief Justice C. Bruce Littlejohn said he once favored building the jail downtown but now wants it constructed outside the city. Littlejohn is chairman of the advisory committee.

The findings of Laney's subcommittee will be distributed to the full committee and more information will be sought from Carter Goble, officials said. The full committee will meet again on Monday, Dec. 12. The positive aspects of a high-rise jail downtown, according to the committee members yesterday, are: 1)Quick access to get prisoners to courtrooms. 2)Jailers can easily confine difficult inmates to sections. 3)Inmates in the top-floor exercise room wouldn't be able to yell at passers-by. The negatives of a high-rise, downtown facility, they said, are: 1)Higher estimated cost. 2)Fire hazard great. 3)Mechanical problems with elevators. 4)Limited parking. 5)Difficult to expand facility.

Committee members cited the following plusses of a low-level jail outside the city: 1)Lower estimated cost. 2)Easier to expand from a proposed 336-bed jail to one accommodating 600 people. The drawback of such a jail: 1)Long distance to bring prisoners to and from courtrooms.

In other business, the committee discussed remodeling the courthouse and will continue the talks until Dec. 12. Solicitor Holman Gossett said more revisions are needed on the proposed floor plan because the waiting room for crime victims is too far from the Solicitor's Office.