Media

Sheriff Rejects Plan To Privatize the Shelby County Jail

Release Date: December 15, 2005

Shelby County Sheriff Mark H. Luttrell Jr. believes the staff and operations at the Shelby County jail should be maintained by the Sheriff’s Office and not be turned over to a privately owned corrections company.

“During the past three years, our staff at the Shelby County Jail has made outstanding progress at improving the operational efficiency and the living environment for inmates at the Shelby County Jail. I believe it would be a mistake if we contracted with a privately owned company to manage the jail.” said Sheriff Luttrell.

Two companies submitted proposals to operate the Shelby County Jail: CCA (Corrections Corporations of America) and GEO Group, Inc. Both Sheriff Luttrell and Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton reviewed the proposals in detail. Sheriff Luttrell cited three primary reasons for not supporting the privatization plan:

1. Employees at the Shelby County Jail have made significant progress to bring the jail out of the scrutiny of the Federal Court. After decades of being constantly monitored by the Federal Court, the Court recognized the efforts of our staff as being the deciding force for the court order being lifted. To sacrifice their efforts for an outside company’s standard of quality is not a wise management decision.
   
   
2. The submitted proposals did not reflect a true indication of the total cost to effectively operate and manage the jail. Further, I focused more on the operational efficiency standards submitted by these private companies rather than their financial projections.
   
   
3. If we continue with the current management team in place, I am confident we will continue to meet the constitutional mandates as set forth by the Federal Court. Switching to a private company might jeopardize our meeting the standards mandated by the Court:

• Direct supervision of inmates by jail staff
• A population management system to monitor inmate levels
• Keeping comprehensive data that tracks jail incidents and staff accountability
• An improved classification system that houses prisoners in cells with others of similar charges
• Documenting and monitoring of gang activity in the jail
• Revising inmate disciplinary actions and aggressive prosecution of those who assault inmates or staff
• A “Disturbance Response Team” (D.R.T.) to enhance the safety of inmates and staff
• Ensuring inmates receive the proper medical, food, counseling and other service
• A grievance procedure to monitor and address inmate complaints
• Continual security and life-safety training for the jail staff
• Monitoring of Improvements in the overall security of the jail
• The effort continues to ensure the jail’s operational standards meet national standards.
• The ongoing development of programs to enhance inmate knowledge to reduce idleness in the jail
• Ensuring there is direct leadership and oversight of the improvements plan by the Sheriff and the jail improvements compliance team

“We will continue to study our options for building a new jail facility without privatizing the operation,” added Sheriff Luttrell.

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