Does the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office need as much space as is contemplated in recent conceptual drawings prepared by an architect hired by the county? Does the Rockbridge Regional Jail need to double or triple in size? And, should consideration be given to relocating the sheriff’s office to a completely different site?
Those were among the questions being asked at an Aug. 24 work session held by the Board of Supervisors that was attended by Sheriff Tony McFaddin and recently appointed Rockbridge Regional Jail Superintendent Wayne Handley.
Supervisors Chair David McDaniel asked McFaddin, “Do you feel that your space needs to basically triple, from 8,000 to 26,000 square feet or whatever the number is?”
The sheriff responded that while there is clearly a need for more space than he currently has – more space to store evidence, more room for investigators to hold private conversations with suspects and witnesses – “I think that the number [presented by the architect], as we work through this, could be shaved. They put in every … [amount of] space we could imagine” projected over the next 20 years.
“When you’re talking about doubling or tripling the size of the jail in 20 years, the population of Rockbridge County is only projected to go up 7 or 8 percent,” said McDaniel. “I’m not sure, unless we go through a population explosion, where those numbers come from. Do we have to increase the jail and the sheriff’s office by that capacity?”
Supervisor Lesley Ayers asked if the architectural study took into consideration “the demographics, that the growth in population is mostly going to happen with older individuals?”
McFaddin noted that most of the increase in inmates at the jail in recent years can be attributed to “repeat customers” – offenders who return to jail after offending again. “That’s the battle we keep having – lock up the ones that need to be locked up and let out the ones that need to be let out.”
County Administrator Spencer Suter observed that, regionally, “some pretty extraordinary measures” are being taken to provide alternatives to incarceration. At a recent meeting of the Blue Ridge Criminal Justice Board, there was a docket that showed “80-some people are being kept out of jail right now with some alternative supervision and working with the courts. It’s really important that we continue that.”
McFaddin said he’s “excited” to be working with Handley to look at other “successful” programs that are being implemented elsewhere in the state to “reduce recidivism. I think this will help reduce some of the [jail’s] population.”
One issue that was discussed was the existing location of utilities that are underground through the area to the west of the jail, in the direction where the facility is slated to expand. Confusion was expressed over whether the architect’s conceptual plans took this into account, and if so, whether proposed costs were included.
If expansion plans move forward, it was discussed whether the jail and/ or sheriff’s office could expand into adjacent areas that are now occupied by the county’s transportation maintenance garage, a waste/recycling collection center and/or land currently being leased to Randy Hostetter’s excavating business.
As he has in the past, McFaddin stated that he would like the sheriff’s office to remain in close proximity to the jail. It’s also important, he said, for his office to be centrally located so as to not increase response times to any parts of the county.
Ayers said she was prepared, “personally, to be on the record [as saying] I like the sheriff’s office where it is. I like it close to our high school. I just do. I like that added security. Yes, [I also like] the speed [of response times]. We’ve never had a problem with that. I like it there. I’m one of five [supervisors]. I’m not looking to find another spot for it.”
The supervisors, as a group, didn’t draw any conclusions from the work session. There did seem to be a consensus to ask for more information from the architects, including, specifically, if the expansion plans take into account the need to relocate utilities.
