Dec 29 2007
Money for Jail But Not for Guards
And so the new jail remains empty, and Hyde County Sheriff David Mason is spending money instead to send prisoners to jails elsewhere. So far, that’s included making trips to Raleigh — 230 miles to the west.The old courthouse and jail for the sprawling rural county that borders Pamlico Sound were damaged by Hurricane Isabel in 2003. New facilities opened in October.
But the county needs more than $600,000 a year to pay for the 15 to 20 staff members the state says are needed at the jail.
Interim county manager Carl Classen said that would require a 14 percent property tax increase, leading the county to instead pay neighboring counties to hold its prisoners while it figures out what to do.
I have been accused of being too logical at times and perhaps this is one of those instances, but isn’t this something they should have considered before spending millions on building the jail in the first place?
