Members of the Greene County Commission deliberated nearly three hours in a workshop meeting Monday, but failed to come up with a plan to present to state jail officials regarding inmate overcrowding.

The Tennessee Corrections Institute has given the Greene County officials until Dec. 3 to approve a long-term plan for dealing with overcrowding at the Greene County Detenction Center, or jail.

Sheriff Steve Burns and Commissioner Jerry Weems appeared before the TCI in October, and were told to have a plan ready by Dec. 3 or face the detention center's decertification.

The county's workhouse on Summer Street, which also holds inmates, is not overcrowded and is in good standing with the TCI.

Burns said the Greene County Detention Center has been "written up" by state officials not only because of basic overcrowding, but because the existing jail does not have enough space to "segregate" violent criminals or gang members from the general inmate population, something the plans for a new jail would seek to address.

A similar workshop meeting was held Nov. 3, but could reach no agreement. County Mayor Alan Broyles said then that the purpose of Monday's meeting was to come up with a plan that could be presented as a resolution at the Nov. 17 monthly meeting of the Greene County Commission.

However, a non-binding "poll" showed that only a handful of commissioners were ready at this time to support some phase of the "new jail, new site" plan, and most were not ready to vote for any plan. (Please see accompanying article.)

Sheriff Steve Burns has repeatedly said he believes that, if a large enough new detention center, or jail, is built, it can be paid for, or mostly paid for, from additional revenue that will come from housing larger numbers of state and federal inmates.

The county currently receives $38 per inmate per day for housing prisoners who are in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Corrections, and $48 per inmate per day for inmates in federal custody, mostly awaiting trial or other action in U.S. District Court either in Greeneville or elsewhere.

However, county budget director David Lawing has said he does not see how the inmate fees can generate more than 65 to 70 percent of the cost of a detention center.

On Monday, Lawing said he thinks inmate funding could fall roughly $1.2 million short if the county commission decides to build the entire $64 million project.

Several commissioners said they needed more specifics before they could vote.

Last week, Jeff Hedden, the U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Tennessee, said that the federal government values its relationship with Greene County, and said he thinks that the federal government will need short-term jail space for large numbers of prisoners awaiting court action for the forseeable future, though no guarantees are possible. Hedden was not at Monday night's workshop.

Since the straw poll did not lead to a resolution for the full commission, at the end of Monday's workshop, Broyles said, "As I see it, for the present time, this matter should be dropped."

Broyles said he would "try to travel to Nashville Dec. 3 to plead the case for Greene County, explain to them that we have worked hard," and ask for continued certification while that work continues.

The county mayor said he will try to make the case that "now is not the time" for a major capital project, "because of the economy."

He added, however, "I think I know what they are going to say."

Last week, Weems asked the sheriff, budget director and architect to come up with a cost worksheet for options regarding a new detention center. At that time, at least some commissioners seemed to favor building one pod of a new jail on a new site, then expanding later.

Monday's workshop began when architect Dave Wright presented commissioners with a spiral-bound, 104-page booklet (with numerous blank pages) that he said included 23 possible configurations of the various elements of plans for the proposed new $64 million jail on a new site first presented last week.

The plan that Wright presented did not include land costs, or staffing costs. The booklet, Wright said, included "the entire plan, broken down into puzzle pieces, in various combinations you could use."

Wright said the entire project, if built, would result in 286,400 square feet of new construction, and a capacity of 596 beds.

The option that included "the very least you could get by with," Wright said, called for a one 192-bed cell block, a "core"section with space for utilities, an intake/booking area as large as the cell block, and a small jail administration area.

Wright said he had received telephone calls about the option of renovating and expanding the present detention center, which is downtown next to the Greene County Courthouse. He said the booklet did not include those options, but he had information about them.

Wright said expansion and renovation of the present detention center adding 250 new beds and a 64-bed dormitory, would cost about $22 million. It would include administrative and kitchen upgrades, improvements to the "sally port" where vehicles containing prisoners enter the jail, and would require relocating the existing sheriff's offices elsewhere, at additional cost.

About $2 million of that total would be for upgrading of existing facilities.

Commissioner Alex Edens left the meeting soon after Wright began his presentation, citing a prior commitment. Before leaving, Edens urged the commissioners to read an editorial in Monday's issue of The Greeneville Sun, and made special reference to a sentence in the editorial that urged commissioners to "think hard before moving the jail" away from downtown.

However, most of the discussion dealt with various aspects of the booklet.

Several commissioners asked what would happen if Sheriff Burns were to ask the federal government to remove most of the prisoners now housed at Greene County facilities, and ask state corrections officials to do the same.

Sheriff Burns pointed out that the current county budget depends on housing an average of 54 federal inmates and a similar number of state inmates. He pointed out that the county has avoided property tax increases for several years by using revenue from housing inmates to balance the general fund.

This year, those two sources generate about $2 million, Burns said. "It takes 77 state and 54.25 federal beds to balance the budget" in the current fiscal year, Burns said.

The sheriff, and later Mayor Broyles, said that the county government has a very advantageous contract with the state regarding housing inmates from here at the detention center, after they are sentenced to three years or less in state prisons. Under that agreement, the state assumes liability for inmate medical costs, after the county pays the first $1,000 per inmate.

Burns said that the county could ask the federal government to remove 45 federal inmates and still leave enough to balance the budget, but the county has little control over the number of state inmates it must house.

Weems said that a plan that would obtain recertification by ending the housing of federal prisoners would "result in a property tax increase, we know," to make up the lost revenue.

Burns also pointed out problems in the existing detention center, especially plumbing, that would be an obstacle if that option is chosen. Burns said the county had to rebuild the sprinkler system in the detention center this year because it could not pass fire marshal tests.

He also said that the electonic system that remotely opens and closes jail doors is worn out and replacement parts cannot be obtained.

"The jail (detention center) is a good, sound structure, but it's old," Burns said. He urged county commissioners considering the upgrade option to personally visit the detention center before deciding.