Sheriff reacts to tax failure following Election Day
Despite struggling with overcrowding for years, the Craighead County Detention Center does not seem to have a solution in sight.
On Election Day, voters rejected a sales and use tax increase that would have paid for jail renovations.
By: Maddie Sexton
Kait 8
Despite struggling with overcrowding for years, the Craighead County Detention Center does not seem to have a solution in sight.
On Election Day, voters rejected a sales and use tax increase that would have paid for jail renovations.
Due to major overcrowding concerns, Sheriff Marty Boyd said they have been clearing out inmates with misdemeanor charges on Fridays to make room for future inmates on the weekends.
“We released 30 [last Friday], and that weekend, we took in 68,” he said. “That’s the conditions we look at on an everyday basis now.”
If it had passed, the tax would have funded reconstruction, repairs, and new equipment to improve the jail.
“It is just simply not big enough for our population we serve,” Boyd said. “At the same time, it’s the people’s vote, and that’s what we’re going to listen to.”
He said the county only has enough money to fix the overcrowding problem for one to two years. However, he said current conditions show the problem will last for the next few decades.
“Any expansion we do is kind of like a band-aid fix,” he said.
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