The McMinn County Justice Center, equipped to house 128 inmates, was built in 1991. Since that time, additional bedding areas have been installed so that the Justice Center will now house 260 inmates. There are thirteen housing units in the Justice Center, four (4) are dormitory style, four (4) are medium security and five (5) are maximum security. The Justice Center is staffed with twenty (32) State Certified Correctional Officers. These officers have received their training through the Tennessee Correctional Institute and must receive in-service hours annually in order to maintain certification.
All persons who are arrested and taken into custody are transported to the Justice Center for booking and incarceration. The Justice Center is divided into separate housing areas for low/medium security risk males, high security risk males, and female inmates, as well as isolation and temporary holding cells. The Justice Center houses both pre-trial detainees and post-conviction inmates who are serving sentences or awaiting transport to the Tennessee Department of Corrections.
In keeping with progressive philosophies in modern corrections, the McMinn County Justice Center offers a variety of voluntary self-improvement opportunities for inmates. Our jail's program coordinators arrange educational courses, chemical-dependency treatment, and religious service opportunities for those inmates seeking rehabilitation. Some of these programs include G.E.D. classes, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and nondenominational religious services.
The Offender Re-Entry Program
A program that is under proposal that targets adult drug-related offenders in the justice system who have served their sentence (at least six months) and are being released. Demographically, offenders are young (21-35) white men although there are a number of white females. Further, most are and have been citizens of McMinn County. Many participants are expected to have co-occurring mental health disorders, e.g. PSTD or bi-polar disorder, etc. To read more about this program click here.
Jail Expansion and Over-Crowding Problem
Earlier this year, the McMinn County Commission's jail committee accepted a bid of $8.3 million for the expansion. The proposal failed before the full commission, with some members citing staffing cost concerns. Problems with overcrowding of female inmates have been noted since 2007, according to the TCI letter. Despite all this a plan presented at the board's meeting to move women to a separate section of the jail that holds 42 beds. The female population has since decreased to 38.
To comply with state rules, workers had to cover windows in the larger section with sheet metal and install more doors and cameras for security and monitoring. Some male inmates were moved to the previous female area, which is set up in individual cells with multiple bunk beds, he said.
Since 2008 nearly $6 million had been allocated for the project, which was estimated to cost $12 million to $14 million. County Commission Chairman David Crews said commissioners wanted a temporary fix at a lower cost. "We just thought with the economy like this, it was not a good time to take a risk on spending the money it was going to take to do this," he said.
