Colbert County Sheriff Frank Williamson
TUSCUMBIA – As word about a new County jail has been circulating in the community, Colbert County Sheriff, Frank Williamson has fielded many questions about it. So, we thought it was a worthy topic to to explore and share the information with our readers.
Gated entrance to the old Colbert County Jail
Inside one of the hallways. Dark and foreboding.
Steel door of a cell.
Williamson told the Quad Cities Daily that the old jail facility just isn’t cutting it. It’s too old, over-crowded, badly in need of repair and it doesn’t serve the needs of Colbert County or the inmates who populate it. So we took a ride out to the Reservation in Sheffield with the Sheriff to see for ourselves how the big plans are going to shape out.
Site of Colbert County’s new Justice Center
Sheriff Frank Williamson at what will become The Colbert County Justice Center
“We are really excited about the prospects of a safe, secure, clean new facility. And we are getting everything in place to begin work,” the Sheriff said. He began by telling us the name: “The Colbert County Justice Center.” The site is on the Tennessee Valley Authority property in the building where TVA had its chemical lab. He explained, “The first thing we have to do with the several buildings here is to go through the process of gutting the structures and making sure that they are a clean and healthy place to operate. After that we begin remodeling and outfitting the place with new utilities, building lots of office space and inmate housing.” Williamson told us that the structures there are already in really good shape, which will make the extensive construction and re-fitting fairly straight forward, “There’s a lot of floor space to work with, so the remodeling is still a very big job. But we will get there!”.
The money for the Justice Center is already set aside. Colbert County’s Comptroller, Roger Creekmore and the County Commission have put the funding in place. That took nearly two years to accomplish. The cost is right at $18-million, plus-or-minus. So they are ready to go in that regard. Architectural and engineering drawings are well underway.
In addition to the previously mentioned improvements, the complex will have a courthouse with two courtrooms and office space for judges and staff. To make this work, a new closed-circuit TV system will connect this facility to the courthouse in Tuscumbia for things such as first appearances and other related matters for court proceedings when it would be impracticable for judges or inmates to travel back and forth between the two locations.
Meeting Halls and Storage
There are two additional buildings on the site which will house meeting rooms and storage facilities. The meeting rooms are expected at this time to also be made available to civic organizations and the like for their use as well. The third building, closest to Reservation Road will be the new headquarters for Colbert County E.M.S.
Given the size of the inmate housing facility, the County is working with Colbert municipalities to possibly house their inmates. It is early in the process, but a number of police departments have expressed interest in the possibility of using the Justice Center to satisfy their housing requirements. Williamson said that they are still in the planning stages so they’re not exactly sure how many inmates the new jail will hold. He estimates that it will house approximately 300, but again, that is still in the planning stage at this point.
Construction work will start in January, 2023 and should take about 2 years to complete.
