By NICOLE CARTRETTE
Staff Writer

It was a day in which everyone wanted to get a first hand look behind bars.
But residents who toured the new Columbus County Detention Center at the Aug. 1 open house discovered there are no bars there.

“It’s just metal doors now. We’ve gotten away from bars,” Lt. Roy Thomas said to a group of five or six he showed around the new $9 million facility. “This is like a miniature prison.”

The facility is complete with its very own “Green Mile” — a hallway with wide floors painted deep green dubbed the “Green Mile” by Sheriff Chris Batten himself.
Justin Hern, 21, of Lake Waccamaw, was one the individuals in Thomas’ tour group. “I just wanted to see the new jail,” Hern said.

He and others were shuffled around the detention center and led by various sheriff department employees in small groups. Spectators dropped by the jail throughout the day and during the open house held from 1 to 7 p.m.

“Technology is a good thing,” Thomas told the group as he demonstrated that visitors would no longer meet with inmates in person but through telemonitors. Visitors would see individuals through a screen and talk to them through a telephone.
Thomas said it would be more efficient and keep jailers from constantly having to shuffle inmates to the front of the facility.

A separate room for attorney visitation allows inmates to speak with their attorneys in person through a glass partition.

A magistrate’s office is conveniently located where it is readily accessible by those seeking bond and officers bringing in detained individuals.

A modern communication system and enlarged sally port make for easier transfer of inmates into the facility. Video monitors show vehicles approaching the port before they enter and officers must request entry before access is permitted.

Offenders are housed in different pods monitored from a central access room with windows looking into each pod.

The old jail holds a maximum of 67 inmates but has been above capacity for years and last week had 120 inmates.

Batten said the open house was an opportunity for people to “get a first hand look at what the needs are” and what practical measures have been taken to make the facility more efficient.

Batten said the facility is safer for his officers and also for inmates.
“It will cut down on inmate injuries and cut down on expenses for hospitalization,” he said.

He said he has been talking with federal authorities about the possibility of housing federal inmates – a more lucrative revenue source at roughly $100 per bed rather than $50 per bed for housing other county jail inmates.

The county has not received its first electrical bill for the facility yet, but Batten said a test run by contractors of all lights, toilets and other utilities rendered a bill of $2,400 per month likely.

“We can expect an increase,” he said.

As for the old jail, Batten said estimates for fixing it up to meet new state standards would be costly at roughly $600,000 for space enough to house only 30 inmates under present state standards.

“My recommendation at this point is not to go that route,” Batten said. He suggests that prisoner trustees remove the bars and clean it up to give administration a better idea of what could be done with the facility.

The old jail, constructed in 1972, is far from meeting today’s standards, he said.

A 20-bed annex on the old jail has to be torn down, he said, because of its poor condition. Dilapidated, cracked and molded walls make it nearly impossible to bring up to standards, Batten said.

The new 192-bed facility is set to open on Aug. 20.