Sheriff asks to use old hospital building

Bedford County Sheriff Randall Boyce has proposed moving his department's offices to the former Bedford County Medical Center building on Union Street, with the possibility of eventually using the upper floors of the building to house non-violent inmates.

Boyce made the request during Tuesday night's meeting of Bedford County Board of Commissioners' courthouse and county property committee, which was followed by a meeting of the commission's law enforcement and workhouse committee.

Boyce said that space needs at the jail, both for inmates and records, prompted the request, coupled with the fact that the county is not realistically in a position to fund a new jail and justice center as had been discussed in recent months.

He said that the sheriff's department offices could be inexpensively moved to the first floor of the hospital, with booking of suspects in the former emergency room on the building's north side. Most suspects who are booked make bail anyway, said Boyce, and those who don't could be transported to the jail after being booked.

The county's judicial commissioners, probation office and possibly Juvenile Court offices would also move to the first floor of the hospital. Currently, the probation office and the Juvenile Court offices are located in rental space.

Moving the sheriff's office would allow the jail to move its administrative offices into the current sheriff's department offices on Lane Parkway. Boyce said storage of jail records has become a problem.

The immediate proposal is just to move offices, but Boyce said that if it is feasible, the second floor of the old hospital could be used to house the type of non-violent inmate called a "weekender" in jail parlance. The third floor could house female inmates.

Boyce said that using the hospital to house inmates could ultimately free up 57 beds at the overcrowded jail, and Boyce said the added capacity for female inmates would allow the county to accept more female state felons, potentially producing income for the facility.

Boyce said the hospital's basic structure is sound and that engineers have told him it is "a fabulous building."

There are questions about how much it would cost to equip the parts of the building not currently served by fire sprinklers. Officials of Tennessee Department of Corrections are expected to inspect the building on Thursday.

"We feel like we'll know more after Thursday," said Boyce.

Boyce said that, except for sprinkler system improvements, the office relocation could be accomplished within the existing budget using inmate labor.

The former hospital adjoins the county-owned Bedford County Nursing Home, which the county is currently proposing to lease to an outside operator. County Mayor Eugene Ray said that 20 operators have asked for copies of the request for proposals.

It's possible that the nursing home, which some officials say needs a new kitchen, could contract to share some of its food service capacity with inmates housed at the jail, even though the typical jail diet differs from the nursing home diet. No mention was made of whether potential nursing home operators might be deterred by the prospect of inmates next door.

The courthouse committee voted to defer action on the propsal for a month while the sheriff's department gathers more information about the sprinkler system and gets input from TDOC. The courthouse committee proposed that it meet jointly with the law enforcement committee next month to consider the proposal, and law enforcement committee members agreed during their meeting, which followed the courthouse committee's.

In other discussion, Ray said use of Medical Arts Building I by county agencies is going well, and that Middle Tennessee State University expects to place four classrooms in Medical Arts Building II. He said the area between the nursing home and the Medical Arts Building is being cleaned up.