The list of abuses and scandals surrounding private prisons are many: (link...)

-- OneTahiti

If a private company could operate the jail and make a profit, why can't the county operate it and break even?

Instead of paying guards and other county personnel, county money would be paying a private company the same or more to house an inmate.

Am I missing something?

Granted many private companies are more efficient and perhaps more effective than government agencies. For instance, in Kingston we contract out our trash collection. Many cities farm out their sewer and water operations.

However, my concern lies with the human element. First, the problem we have with the jail is not a result of the people working there. The problem we now have with staffing seems to be the result of poor planning among those responsible for planning and building the new jail.

Moreover, no matter what one thinks of the people who are in our jail, they are not trash or sewer. They are members of the human family. I worry that the way a company will make money is by lowering standards - less pay and benefit for employees, less medical care, food, and service for the incarcerated. Working in the jail as a county employee is hard enough - but working in the jail for lower wages and benefits may make it impossible.

We must also keep in mind that many of the people in our jail have not been convicted of a crime and they are not to be punished.

Also, the time to have considered this option would have been before building the new jail – the companies running private jails most likely would have built it for us.

Finally, hiring a private company will not absolve the county should there be problems in the jail.

(Disclaimer - my mother in law is a Sergeant working in the jail in Roane County. However, I have not yet polled her on this subject).

I am totally opposed to a private company running the jail or any other corrections facility. We don't want to wind up like California where the lobbyists push for unreasonable enforcement and ridiculous restrictions on prisoner probations so they can drive up the prison population. It has trippled California's prison population, pushed them deeper in to the red financially, and has not had much positive effect on the crime rate. The incentive needs to be on keeping these people out, working and paying taxes if there is no real protection to be gained from locking them up.

The planners of the new jail did a lousy job! It is amazing that here we are with a first class facility and the Sheriff says he'll not move in unless he gets the staff he is asking for. To do so we'll all have to ante up more tax dollars. That prospect gets everybody in an uproar, so someone comes up with the privatization idea to deflect angry citizens and preserve votes.

Bad idea!! Private jails are a great idea that does not work. Introducing the profit motive to prisoner management is ridiculous.

We need to bite the bullet on this, hire the necessary staff, move forward and elect officials with better planning skills.

Commission to debate privatization of jail at tonights meeting

The county commission is not debating the selling of the jail tonight, the budget committee will...

July 16, 2009: 7:00 p.m. -

There will be a Public Hearing on the Budget/a Budget Committee meeting/and a Commission Workshop on the Budget on Thursday, July 16, 2009. These meetings will start at 7:00 o'clock p.m. in the Qualls Commission Room on the 2nd floor of the Courthouse in Kingston.

In county commission budget workshop I just learned that without sheriff's approval county cannot take the jail from him. This a state law. Thus, not until the next election can the jail be farmed out to a private company and the plans must be in place before the sheriffs election.

By iPhone From the court house

Another thing to consider is that even if the County Commission decided to privatize the new jail that wouldn't eliminate the 20+ sheriff's office employees currently on the jail staff. Those employees can't be cut by the Commission EVER so taxpayers would still have to fund the money for the private company to run the jail while still paying for the same amount of staff currently employed at the sheriff's office.

I think out of the 95 counties in Tennessee only 3 have privatized jails and my understanding is only the annexes of those county jails are privatized and not the entire jails.

Proponents of privatizing the new jail may argue that there is not a new jail yet. Yes, there is a building that says it is a jail. But, there are no inmates housed in it. And, there are no employees working there.
No, the county cannot take the jail from the Sheriff. But, there is an existing jail in use. They could try to make him use the existing jail until the next election.
I do not believe the jail should be privatized either. I respect Sheriff Stockton and have respect for anyone who risks his or her life each day to help keep us safe. If the new jail is opened, the Sheriff should have everbody and everything he needs to insure the safety of those working in the facility.
However, some may argue that it isn't a jail yet, essentially to try and put off opening it until the next election. Can they do that? I am not sure. But, you can bet someone will try.