A Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) committee has been created for Macon County, designed to create a path to certification for detention facilities facing decertification or that have been decertified. Officials say the program is also designed to eliminate unnecessary expenditures, time and duplication among agency personnel and county administrative staff.
鈥淭his committee is for the accreditation process,鈥 said Macon County Jail Administrator Jacob Law. 鈥淔orming this committee will help us receive more funding with the state inmates bringing in an additional three dollars per inmate. Once we meet our next goal by reaching tier two, there will be an additional three more dollars.鈥
Macon County Assistant Jail Administrator, Scotty Sutton added, 鈥淏asically, anyone that comes to us is classified each morning by me. I鈥檓 going to look at who has come in the previous day, pretrial misdemeanor, convicted misdemeanor, pretrial felon, convicted felon. We like to get a general idea of who is coming into the facility. This is important information for future accreditation. We get paid for state inmates. The classification part of it is how we house the inmates.鈥
According to the Tennessee Corrections Institute, the program provides major stockholders 鈥 sheriffs, county mayors, police chiefs, legislators and the public 鈥 with multiple avenues to communicate, participate and support each other. It also provides education and awareness regarding jail operations, problems the local facility is facing and methods in addressing facility problems.
Sutton said the new addition to the jail will require more staff, and will allow for the housing of additional inmates.
鈥淥ne misconception I believe people get is that the state inmates are from other places,鈥 said Sutton. 鈥淲hile that can be true, it is mostly felons from right here in Macon County. So, currently, it is just Macon County inmates that we are being paid for. Once the new wing is open, we will have to have a big surge from outside the county to pay for the jail. The sheriff is working on a proposal to present to the commissioners that will outline his plan to hire a few new employees in the summer so we can get them trained by the time the new wing of our facility is open, which is tentatively scheduled for the first of 2026.鈥
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.