An inmate at the Jackson County Jail says, 'This ain't fit to live in for nobody'

February 4, 2000
Web posted at: 11:22 p.m. EST (0422 GMT)

In this story: Prisons are a priority Relief in sight RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Correspondent Brian Cabell

SYLVA, North Carolina (CNN) -- Sheriff Jim Cruzan makes do with what he's got at his tiny, antiquated jail in Jackson County, North Carolina.

"I let them have a TV -- there's their luxury. And this fan -- that's a luxury," Cruzan said. There is no air conditioning in the nearly 40-year-old facility.

	VIDEO
CNN's Brian Cabell looks at how a North Carolina county sheriff deals with overcrowding at his jail. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

Other conditions are also less than desirable.

"You wanna drink outta this? You wanna drink outta that?" asked one inmate as he demonstrated how water dribbled out of a spigot in his four-man cell.

"This ain't fit to live in for nobody, not even an animal, know what I mean?" another inmate said.

The story is a common one among the nation's 3,200 county jails. Until recently there has been little funding to modernize or rebuild the small jails that house inmates serving short terms or awaiting trial.

"Everybody wants you to enforce the law and get the criminals off the street, but they're not too interested in where you put them," said Cruzan.

Repeatedly, the Jackson County grand jury has come in, inspected the jail and then condemned it for being unsafe, unsanitary and too cramped. But the budget for repairs has been severely limited, so there's not much anybody's been able to do about it.

Prisons are a priority

It's a different story for state prisons because politicians are willing to build modern facilities to get serious criminals behind bars.

But one official calls county jails the stepchildren of the penal system -- facilities that place heavy pressure on jailers and inmates alike.

They're out of sight, out of mind," said Ken Kerle of American Jails Magazines. "Jails are really the dumping ground for the criminals and social misfits of the community."

Kerle said communities slowly are finally taking notice of the old jails and building new ones.

Sheriff Cruzan has taken two steps to ease the pressure:

• He allows inmates to smoke, unlike many corrections officials. Cruzan said it calms them and gives them incentive to behave.
• He has hired all female jailers, which he says has resulted in fewer conflicts with inmates.

"With the men, they kind of have this tug of war -- of who's the biggest man, who's going to do what who says and what who wants. And it doesn't seem we have that problem," said Capt. Tammy Hedden of the Jackson County Jail.

Relief in sight

While Cruzan's goal has been just to keep the lid on at his facility, his job may get easier. Jackson County officials plan to start construction of a new, larger jail sometime this year.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.