The Tennessee Senate has passed a bill sponsored by state Sen. Steve Southerland designed to help keep Tennessee jails from being decertified by the state over the issue of space requirements for inmates.

A similar bill introduced by state Rep. David Hawk, R-5th, of Greeneville, is pending in the State Government Subcommittee of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Rep. Hawk said Friday in an interview that he is hopeful that his bill, too, will be passed.

If the House passes the bill and Governor Phil Bredesen signs the resulting legislation or lets it become law without his signature, it is possible that Greene County would get some relief in dealing with the inmate-crowding problems here.

The bill sponsored by state Sen. Southerland, R-1st, of Morristown, specifies that the state standards for the square footage of cells in new or existing local correctional facilities must be the minimum federal standards required by the "Performance-Based Standards for Adult Local Detention Facilities" of the American Correctional Association (ACA).

ACA standards require that local jails provide 35 square feet per inmate. At present, though, local jails in Tennessee have to comply with the more stringent 50-square-feet-per-inmate standard required by the Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI).

The standard of 50 square feet per inmate for a single cell was adopted in 1982 by an advisory committee of the TCI.

If a local jail in Tennessee does not meet the TCI standards, the TCI can take away the jail's state certification. Loss of state certification would leave the local government much more vulnerable to inmate lawsuits.

"This measure will make sure that local jails are not decertified, an action which could cost taxpayers millions of dollars," Southerland said of his bill.

He added, "It also helps save money when new jails are built.

"For example, where a 500-bed jail in Florida cost $32 million to build, the same facility in Tennessee would cost taxpayers $58 million under the current square footage requirements."

"Housing inmates is a very costly expenditure for local governments," Southerland said.

"Local counties could save as much as 30 percent on new facilities while still meeting minimum standards set by the ACA. I am pleased our state senate has adopted this bill."

Sheriff Burns said Friday in an interview that the legislation, by allowing more inmates to be housed in less space than the TCI standards permit, is a move toward reducing the cost per inmate of operating any new county jail.

He indicated that he is not yet sure whether the legislation would help relieve the decertification questions at the present Greene County Detention Center.

The sheriff said he wants to closely compare the standards of the American Correctional Association with those of the Tennessee Corrections Institute.

He said he believes that, "in the long run," unless federal square footage requirements are also eased, a new state law would not help very much, should an inmate file a lawsuit in federal court alleging overcrowding.

Sheriff Burns said he was in Nashville this week to discuss such legislation.

Greene County Mayor Alan Broyles said Friday he appreciates the Senate's action on the Southerland bill, which, if followed by the House, "will certainly help us keep our costs (per inmate) down," both for the existing detention center, or jail, and any inmate facilities that are built here in the future.

State Rep. Eddie Yokley, D-11th, of Greene County, said he has not yet had an opportunity to read the bill that passed the senate and that he would therefore would postpone comment about it.

Burns told the Greene County Commission's budget committee on Tuesday, "We're shuffling inmates every day" to maintain a low census at the Greene County Jail, or detention center.

Last December, after operating at well over capacity for several years, the sheriff had to significantly reduce the inmate population to satisfy the TCI, which then granted certification for another year.

Loss of certification had been threatened until then, as county officials tried and failed to come up with a solution involving construction of a new detention center.

The jail has a rated capacity of 159 beds.

The sheriff said he is hopeful that large numbers of federal and state inmates that were housed at the detention center for the first five months of this fiscal year -- before he had to make the reduction -- will be enough for the department's budget to "break even" at the end of the current year.

But he noted that decreases in revenue from this source will be seen in the new fiscal year that begins in July.

He said the inmate population spiked briefly to above 190 already this year, but has been running in the 160s and 170s.

"We want to get the state (inspectors) up here and let them look at what's happened in the last three months," the sheriff said.

Burns said, "the bottom line is, we try to hold onto the (inmates) who pay the most, as long as we can." The county is paid $48 per day for housing inmates in federal custody awaiting trial or sentencing in U.S. District Court, two blocks away.

The county is also paid to house inmates in state custody, but not for prisoners arrested locally on state charges, who have not been tried or sentenced.